It has been a very busy period of the year in the development programme these past months. In October alone there have been 112 scheduled clinics held which 4742 children attended and this far more than 23 000 children having come through the development programme this year. As well as clinics, there have also been capacity building courses that have been held this last month with coaching, mechanics, officiating, event management and safety and security courses held. There has also been marshal training courses which has resulted in 230 new marshals being trained. Several district races have also been held across the whole province which allows the children to practice and show the new skills that they have learnt over the last couple of months and to also allow the children to have some friendly competition against their peers. As this year draws to a close and children start going on holiday so the schedule starts to slow down, and we can begin preparations in order to start in January again with a bang.
aQuellé Tour Durban – Inaugural KZN Cycling Club Championships
Greetings to all club reps As the year starts drawing to a close, it’s great to be able to share some information with you relative to two exciting new initiatives aimed specifically at clubs, and their registered members, that will be in place at the 2025 edition of the aQuellé Tour Durban.The inaugural KZN Cycling Club Championships will be staged on 27th April 2025 – our road race day – and this new competition allows all registered clubs of all sizes and rider depth to be able to compete and to walk away with some prizes, and the bragging rights that go with the title….!!The KZN Cycling Participation Trophy competition will be linked to both days of competition at the event and will require very little effort from all concerned…The basis of the KZN Cycling Club Championships competition is outlined below. •The Championships is based on competition across three different road race distances – 42km, 68km and 110km •The cumulative results of the top three finishers from each club in each of these distances will be taken to determine the overall winning club •Therefore, the results are determined by nine riders from the club •The finishing time of each rider will be taken and added to determine the overall club time •All entrants from your club will be eligible to be one of the top finishers – ie. the clubs will not need to designate which riders will be making up their official team •All riders in the competition must be an official club member and need to have a valid CSA Membership •Entrants will just need to enter the event in the normal manner, in their chosen distance and indicate their club on the entry portal as one of the required fields. The event organisers will then manage all timing and results collation etc •Riders can be male or female – there is no specific designation •Unfortunately, the competition will not allow for entrants on e-bikes… Benefits that will accrue to the participating and winning clubs and riders are as follows: •All participating clubs can set up a team area in the clubs section in finish area for free •All participating clubs will be able to have support staff in the designated clubs technical zones on the course to be able to provide additional feeding and mechanical support etc •Trophies will be awarded to the top three clubs, and the nine riders from each of the top three clubs will receive presentation medals and product hampers Presentation medals will be given to the top 3 x finishers in each distance so these individual efforts can be recognised as well •The winning club will receive free registration with KZN Cycling for the following year •The winning club will be able to use the term “2025 KZN Cycling Club Champions” on all official correspondence and communication mechanics such as websites, social media platforms, newsletters etc for the period until the following year’s competition is staged •Additional prizes for the competition are being sourced at present and when pertinent, more information will be given as to these benefits Apart from the KZN Cycling Club Championships competition that allows for an outlet for the more competitive members from the clubs, there is another competition linked to the event for those club members that that don’t necessarily want to race, but just wish to be part of the event. The parameters of the KZN Cycling Particiption Trophy competition are as follows: •The competition is open to entrants in both the mountain bike and road elements of the event •Riders on e-bikes will contribute towards the winning totals •Just by entering the event(s), club members will add to their club’s chances of success… •The winning club will be the club that enters the highest percentage of their registered members into the aQuellé Tour Durban events relative to the total number of club members. •By way of explanation, if a club has 100 members and 50 people enter the event, they will receive a score of 50%. Although a club may have more members, eg. 200 members in total, if 90 members enter, that club will receive a score of 45%. •This will mean that the first club will finish in a higher position than the second club •This allows all clubs registered with KZN Cycling – irrespective of size – an opportunity to have success at the event. •If a club member enters both the MTB and Road race, the club will receive an additional entry to add towards their total – i.e.. 3 x entries instead of 2. Trophies will be awarded to the top three clubs in this competition, and the winning club will receive free registration with KZN Cycling for the following year. I trust this information makes sense in the first instance, but more importantly, is of interest. We are working closely with KZN Cycling in a bid to boost the club initiatives and to have more people on more bikes more regularly – this being very much one of the cornerstones of the aQuellé Tour Durban. We are an event of participation and recreational bike riding as opposed to hardcore racing, but it is acknowledged that there are people that enjoy riding their bikes as hard and as fast as possible, and some that just wish to ride more sedately, and these new initiatives allow for all members of a club to be accommodated. Clubs, riders, the federation and organisers are all important cogs in the machine to allow for the sport to grow and to flourish, and the more we can all work together in order to assist each other, the better… To this end, it would be greatly appreciated if the event information and these competitions can be shared with your club members, and that your club members be encouraged to compete.Should there be any queries about these initiatives, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Thanks, and kind regardsAlec LenfernaEvent DirectoraQuellé Tour Durban+27 82 909
