Is Gravel racing more road or more mountain bike? Well, according to the UCI, it’s more mountain bike, which is why it falls under mountain biking on a global level. Locally, Gravel is managed by the Cycling SA MTB Commission and it’s growing. Exactly how big is Gravel currently and what is its potential in South Africa? Here’s what we found.
By Sean Badenhorst
It’s not too hard to trace the roots of Gravel racing in South Africa. The first edition of the Crater Cruise in the early 2000s is probably the first authentic Gravel race. The only thing missing was Gravel bikes. Hundreds of bike racers used twenty-six-inch mountain bikes on a route that was intentionally created to be low on anything technical and big on distance – 100km was a long way to ride a 26-inch mountain bike with triple chainring gearing.
The Crater Cruise is no longer in existence but while mountain biking has grown in both size and sub-categories in the past 20 years, there’s been a consistent desire for uncomplicated long-distance racing in a segment of the mountain bike market.
We had a look at the results of the most recent edition of the more well-known Gravel races in South Africa to get an idea of the numbers. We just looked at the results, which shows the finishers, so you can probably add at least 5-10% for entry numbers.
The featured distance at these events is 100 miles or 160 kilometres. Most of them also offer shorter distance options:
- 2023 King Price Race to the Sun: 1925
- 2022 King Price Race to the Sea: 522
- 2023 Swartberg 100: 425
- 2022 Prince George 100 Miler: 254
- 2022 Fidelity ADT Gravel Travel 100 Miler: 411
- 2022 Underberg Gran Fondo: 104
- 2023 Ronde van Riebeek: 641
These are ultra-endurance focused races, but which promote Gravel bikes and which also include shorter distance options:
- 2023 News24 Karoo Burn: 125
- 2023 Ford Cullinan 2 Tonteldoos: 212
- 2023 The 36ONE MTB Challenge: 346
- 2022 Around the Pot: 349
For the 100-miler events, the finisher numbers are respectable. It’s definitely not a passing fad. It’s also worth mentioning that Gravel races tend to appeal to middle-aged cyclists. Low on leg speed and no real desire to ride at the vomit limit, a long-distance gravel race demands primarily endurance and patience. The absence of any real high-risk features that you’d find in a standard mountain bike race is also appealing for many who have family and work responsibilities to return to after the race… This is the biggest age segment of the South African mountain bike market and we anticipate there will be a fair number of road cyclists moving into Gravel racing for a fresh challenge and to avoid the chaos and danger on our tar roads…
There’s a stack of gravel road in South Africa and, as I discovered a couple of years back, there’s definitely some appeal to riding bicycles on gravel, even for a hardened mountain biker like me. Like the South African cycling industry, we at TREAD Media have been somewhat unsure about this new discipline, but having watched it develop over the past couple of years, we’re ready to make a commitment to it.
Because Gravel falls under mountain biking, TREAD Media recognises the discipline as one to be covered. Until now, we have mostly published event reviews (if they’re sent to us well written with decent images). Because we feel Gravel is an important sub-category that’s got growth potential, we are committing to regular Gravel-related content going forward.
Our new Gravel contributor is Donovan van Gelder, an aging-but-fast roadie and triathlete who is keen for a fresh challenge. After competing in road and triathlon for 38 years, the KwaZulu-Natal-based Van Gelder is going to shift his focus to Gravel racing for a while and document his experiences for TREAD Media.
Van Gelder is an endurance sports coach by profession, but has done a fair bit of writing for different media over the years. He will be tackling some key Gravel-specific topics as well as doing Gravel bike tests and some gear reviews for TREAD Media. After a while, he’ll also be able to answer the question in the first line of this article…
