Spur League announces 2021 Season

Article: https://www.spurmtbleague.co.za/news/spur-league-announces-2021-season/

Dear SSMTBL Family,

It is with great excitement that the Spur Schools Mountain Bike League can announce that the 2021 Season will start on 15 May 2021.

While the pandemic continues to provide event organisers with serious challenges, the League has decided to adjust the format for the first round of competition to ensure the running of compliant and safe events.

An individual time-trial style racing format will be introduced for the first round of competition in all regions. This format not only makes participant management easier and safer, but also alleviates the League’s seeding conundrum as there has not been any competition for almost 18 months. All results and points from this first round of competition will count towards overall season qualification.

Photo by Chris Hitchcock / PhotoSport

The League is looking forward to the exciting format adjustments to adapt to Covid-19 regulations while maintaining our key objectives of getting more kids on bikes and driving transformation of the sport, as great strides have already been made in these areas. The new format will need to offer an outcome that can fluently integrate into a finals-based competition as allowed by the regulations – this will provide a solution that is fair, affordable and accessible to all participants.”

– Meurant Botha, SSMTBL Director, Amarider

We are ecstatic and extremely grateful to see our schools participate in the 2021 Spur League season again where safety, accessibility and affordability have been taken into consideration. During April we will finalise, in cooperation with the League, the practicalities and test the new format. Schools Cycling SA’s respective provinces will host information sessions with their affiliated schools at the beginning of May to communicate more information. We cannot wait to see our Schools Cycling family in action again, and in the meantime please continue to practice while complying with safety regulations.”

– Annelize Ziehl-Owens, President Schools Cycling South Africa.

Photo by Chris Hitchcock / PhotoSport

“Really amazing news to hear that the Spur MTB Schools League is continuing its legacy and starting the racing again in May since the 2019 Season that saw over 19 000 entries. A massive thank you to  the League for putting the events back on and providing a platform for the youth of the sport to develop and shape their talent into future stars.”

– Alan Hatherly, SA XCO Elite Champion
The League will monitor, in consultation with stakeholders, the ongoing Covid-19 regulations and move to standard, XCO-fo‌rmat racing when it is viable and safe to do so.

Entries for the season open on 25 March. For more information, visit www.spurmtbleague.co.za