On the evening of Thursday, 21 September, the George Municipality Disaster Management deemed the 2023 Lions Karoo to Coast unsafe to proceed, due to expected adverse weather conditions on Sunday, 24th September 2023. This decision, though by-in-large supported by the riders registered to participate in the event, has implications beyond the staging of a mountain [...]
The Lions Karoo to Coast is one of South Africa’s most enduring and popular mountain bike races for a reason. Yes, the route is spectacularly beautiful. It is challenging enough to attract the most competitive of riders, while being an achievable challenge for relative newcomers to the sport. What really makes the event so special [...]
Heritage Day 2023, or Braai Day as it is more commonly known, coincides with the twenty third edition of the Lions Karoo to Coast mountain bike race; on Sunday, 24 September. Which is exceptionally fitting as the event is more than a mainstay of the South African cycling calendar. It is among the most iconic [...]
Dusty Day and Fienie Barnard won the 2022 CCPP Group Lions Karoo to Coast on Sunday, 25 September. Day had Lenré Coetzee for company until the descent from Buffelsnek, with 35 kilometres to go, when Coetzee punctured. Barnard though was caught behind and early crash, thus she only realised she was leading the women’s race [...]
Before Covid turned the world on its head the weather did the same to the most recent edition of the CCPP Group Lions Karoo to Coast. It turned what is usually a challenging but enjoyable race into an odyssey of epic proportions. The next two years saw pandemic enforced postponements, which means that the 2022 [...]
The 2020 date is set for South Africa’s favourite single day mountain bike event: 20 September. Heading into the 22nd edition the Karoo to Coast promises to be as challenging, rewarding and fun as ever – when 4 500 riders take on the route from Uniondale to Knysna. The 96-kilometre-long course, which crosses the old wagon [...]
Sebastian Stark and Nicky Giliomee prevailed against the elements, on a day when the heavens opened over the Prince Alfred’s Pass, to win the 2019 BUCO Karoo to Coast. The 96-kilometre-long, ultra-marathon, mountain bike race started in Uniondale as a few drops of rain began to fall, but by the time the riders reached Knysna [...]
The 2019 BUCO Karoo to Coast may not feature any professional mountain bikers but with a host of top amateurs taking part victory, in South Africa’s largest single day event, is sure to be fiercely contested. The 96-kilometre route, from the Karoo town of Uniondale to Knysna on the Indian Ocean coast, features 1 560 metres [...]
Seamus Allardice might be biased – he has drunk the gravel bikes Kool-Aid after-all – but he believes gravel is growing in South Africa. It goes further than brands bringing bikes into the country and events popping up all along the country’s network of dirt roads. The heart of the matter lies in the maturation [...]
The 2018 BUCO Karoo to Coast was won by Craig Boyes and Pauline Tunstead in remarkably different fashions, on Sunday the 23rd of September. Boyes held off his breakaway companions in a sprint for the line, while Tunstead slowly ground down the women’s field on the route’s long climbs of the Prince Alfred's Pass, between [...]
