Friday, April 4, 2025

July 25, 2014

Competitive Cycling: World’s Richest Endurance Sport Comes To SA

One of the newcomers to the realm of competitive endurance cycling is coming to SA and it is bringing with it one MASSIVE pot of prize-money... get cycling!

One of the newcomers to the realm of competitive endurance cycling is coming to SA and it is bringing with it one MASSIVE pot of prize-money… get cycling!

Alright so with this race happening in December, you probably will not be able to transform yourself from a couch potato or occasional cyclist into a lean, mean cycling machine at a level competitive enough to have a real shot of winning. If, however, you are already a hardcore cyclist or you know someone who is, perhaps it is time to put in a few extra hours of training or buddying up.

South Africa’s Munga race, a newcomer in the world of competitive cycling, is sure to raise eyebrows and excitement levels with its $1million (R10,5-million) prize money – the largest prize in the world for an endurance sport.

By comparison, the arduous eight-day mountain bike race, the Absa Cape Epic, has prize money worth R1.6-million in total, and for the world’s most famous cycle race, the 23-day Tour de France, first prize is à450000 (R6.3-million). The Tour de France teams are made up of at least nine cyclists and over and above the prize money they earn stage money, sponsorships and receive incentives.

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But there’s a catch. Each team has to pay $10000 to enter the non-stop event – 1000km offroad between Bloemfontein and Stellenbosch over five days.

The Munga currently has 120 registrations for the race – it is limited to 450 teams of two.

Hefty entry, sure but when the prize money is as substantial, pretty worth it, right?

Check out more details at Times Live.