Looking back on the Old Mutual Go2Berg

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CIARAN RYAN: Here’s something new – a mountain bike race over six-and-a-half days and 530 kilometres, starting in the northern Free State town of Frankfort, through Reitz to the eastern Free State town of Clarens, and then on to the Drakensberg for a finish at the famous Champagne Sports Resort.

The race is called the Old Mutual Go2Berg Mountain Bike Race, and it has just been completed for the first time – hopefully in what is to become an annual event.

To explain more about this, we’re joined by Bandile Mngoma, senior manager, Vendor Management and Sponsorship Governance at Old Mutual. Hi, Bandile. Thanks for joining us. Tell us about this race and why Old Mutual decided to get involved as a sponsor.

BANDILE MNGOMA: Wow. I have to say if you haven’t ridden the Old Mutual Go2Berg, then you would not have seen the splendour South Africa has to offer.

It is about mountain biking, very true, but it’s also about a journey through South Africa in the most beautiful landscape and the most beautiful single-track off-road racing, going through some farmland and also going through some very interesting towns within South Africa.

It is a historical journey in terms of riding and, from an Old Mutual point of view, our involvement is about enabling those passionate mountain bikers and making sure that the communities en route benefit. So that is our main aim.

CIARAN RYAN: Right. So the inaugural race has just been completed, and I described the route very briefly from the Free State town of Frankfort through to Reitz through to Clarens, and then on to the Drakensberg. Why was that route chosen?

BANDILE MNGOMA: Well, more than anything else, it’s about trying to have as many rural gravel roads [as possible], quiet farm roads, and over 250 kilometres of single-track trails.

The route is chosen parallel to the N3 towards the coast. But it’s actually making sure that [participants] get the highs, the lows, the rivers, the valleys.

So it’s all about making sure that there’s a combination of off-road rural gravel roads, farm roads and single track. That’s why the route was chosen like that.

CIARAN RYAN: So tell us a bit about the race. How many participants were there, and how many different categories of winners were there?

BANDILE MNGOMA: The field is limited to 300 riders and good, sizeable 100 supporting crews. When talking about supporting crews, you’re talking about your masseuse, you’re talking about your mechanics, you are talking about your group guides, you are talking about rescue services, you are talking about medics. So that’s the field.

Out of the 300 field, a good 17% were international riders. Those were foreign nationals visiting us.

So we had a good contingent from Denmark. There was even one Lebanese rider. So the rider field was quite an awesome one.

In terms of your question, in terms of the winners, we had Philip Buys in terms of the sub-veteran category as a winner. And we also had Hano Oberholzer in terms of the veterans. Danielle Strydom was a solo woman winner. Those were some of the winners.

And from a men’s team, we had Team OzMoz, which was a combination of Fiebig [George] and Sergio [Henriques]. Those are our foreign national riders. And from a mixed team, we had Team Stissy, that is Chrissy [Conyers] and Steve [Durrant] winning in that category.

So we had an interesting mix of veterans, sub-veterans, elite masters, women and mixed teams. It was a great field.

CIARAN RYAN: Now did you get support from the local communities? I looked at a little video that was put out about the race and it does go through private farmland and some little tracks. It must have been quite a logistical exercise to put this route together, and you could not have done this without the support of the local community, right?

BANDILE MNGOMA: Oh well, it has to start with the race organisers. They are Craig Wapnick and Gary Green. Those are the two brains behind this. They’ve got extensive experience, whether the Joberg2c or Sani2C or Berg & Bush. They’ve quite extensive experience, and going through the farm areas is at the heart of everything else.

You cannot traverse that route without going through farmland and without having the community backing us.

So the various farm associations and the various schools in those areas are at the heart of it because that is how they also fundraise by hosting all these riders within their premises. So it is at the heart of Go2Berg that we work quite closely and intimately with the farm and land owners en route.

CIARAN RYAN: That’s an interesting point you raise. Of course it goes over six-and-a-half days, so they’ve got to stop at different points along the route. These stops – were they in towns or were they on farms, or did people make different plans for each other?

BANDILE MNGOMA: It’s a different combination, it’s a beautiful mix. First we started at [Hoërskool Wilgerivier] in Frankfort. So it was at the school’s premises within their sports field, tented accommodation. And then at Reitz we were at an exhibition and a stall area. And then when you got to Sterkfontein Dam, it was within the Sterkfontein Dam resort.

And for the first time at Clarens we were staying at BnBs …so that was a great contributor towards the GDP of Clarens.

And then when you go further on, you stay within farmlands, and especially in Winterton we were staying at Em’seni camp.

So it’s a combination of school, open farm areas and for the first time BnBs.

And what a magnificent finish at the Champagne Sports Resort. So that is the combination. However, there’s a big community fundraising element to it in all of these raised villages.

CIARAN RYAN: Right. When you say ‘community fundraising’ it is an opportunity for the community to make some money from renting out their premises or rooms or property, right?

BANDILE MNGOMA: Definitely. If you think about, let’s say, [the] Frankfort hoërskool, they would be given seed funding to host the 300 riders.

However, they could go to their local businesses just to augment [the funding] and they could keep that seed funding.

I know, for example, that they have bought vehicles before, they have improved their sporting facilities and so forth, because the funds that they get from the race are purely seed funding to make sure that they cater and look after the riders.

However, if they involve the local communities they can double, or triple that seed funding as well.

CIARAN RYAN: Final question. Is this going to become an annual event, and will the route be changed every year?

BANDILE MNGOMA: The route would not necessarily change drastically, because it’s a Go2Berg.

So it means we are leaving from the south of Johannesburg, [on to the] Frankfort area in the Free State, and all the way towards the Drakensberg. So in having trails being built differently each year, I don’t think [much change is] possible. However, it’ll be a very intricate, very dynamic and very challenging route in the foreseeable future.

More than anything else, it is going [along] routes towards the coast of Durban or as close to Durban as possible.

CIARAN RYAN: And this will become annual?

BANDILE MNGOMA: Yes. That is the thought process and the plan. We were previously involved in a similar sporting event called Joberg2C, which was from the south of Joburg all the way to the south coast of Durban. That was nine days. This one is six-and-a-half days. So we are continuing that tradition of having it as an annual pilgrimage.

CIARAN RYAN: Bandile Mngoma, thanks very much for joining us. That was Bandile Mngoma, senior manager, Vendor Management and Sponsorship.

Brought to you by Old Mutual. 

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