I set out to make the Nedbank Gravel Burn quite different from any other stage race and to do this with the ‘spirit of gravel’ in mind. To me, that means including a unique element – an African adventure in remote and unspoilt areas.
Bringing this to life in untouched parts of our country requires real commitment – both in energy and capital. We’ve embraced that, eyes wide open. Our aim is to design the Burn Camps to offer the same comfort, convenience and campfire feel you’d expect on a special camping trip with friends. Forming the building blocks of each of our Burn Camps are the ‘Lapas’ (an African word for shelter) which refer to small groups of 25 tents, centred around a fire. This design allows us to preserve that intimate, connected experience, even as the number of riders grows.
We want our Burn Camp infrastructure to be as congruent with the natural environment as possible – tents in earth tones and built ablutions etc. The remoteness of the Burn Camps means that there will be no alternate accommodation, nearby restaurants or shops and the like, so we need to make sure we offer a premium service at each of them.
Getting this right has involved careful work: we’ve begun preparing the farmland for our Burn Camps by relocating foliage and stones, removing old fence wire from the bushes, all while preserving naturally occurring Acacia and Rhus species as key indigenous features. We’re working on water reticulation planning – from showers to toilets to bike wash areas. We have already ordered 1,800 tents and 1,800 Disc-O-Beds – state-of-the-art camp beds made in South Africa that are in big demand across the world.
Earlier this month, at the historic Blaauwater Farm just outside Graaff-Reinet, we sunk our first borehole and struck water at 34 metres and early indications suggest a flow rate of around 20,000 litres per hour!
Of course, the farmers who have so generously allowed us to use their land will have access to these facilities for the rest of the year. Hopefully this will be just part of the legacy that the Nedbank Gravel Burn leaves in these areas. With ChemChamp as our infrastructure and sustainability partner we’re confident we can create a solution that benefits the event, the farmers and the long-term sustainability of the region.
Our next step is to stage ‘The Kindling’ from April 10 to 13. The main purpose of The Kindling is to allow all of our stakeholders a chance to get a taste of the real experience of the Nedbank Gravel Burn in advance of the main event. A total of around 25 riders – some stakeholders and some friends of the event – and 50 or so crew members will run three stages of the event as a showcase of our logistics, the route, the facilities and everything else.
Importantly, with the scale of our operation, there is a need to get things buttoned down now. And since we’ve almost reached our registration capacity, we will close entries on 25 April at the latest. If you are intending to ride and have not yet got around to entering, I suggest you do so as soon as possible, on our website. On that note: if you’ve already entered, and for any reason can no longer ride, please cancel your entry to free up space for others who can ride this year. Note that if you do this after 1 April, the cancellation fees are significantly more. Quite frankly, I find writing all of the above quite amazing: it seems like yesterday when the Nedbank Gravel Burn team started on this journey and here we are, about to close entries for the inaugural race!
[Edit: As of 17 April, entries for the 2025 edition are officially closed as we’ve reached our registration capacity.]
Talking about the team, we had an unfortunate incident two weeks ago involving one of my old friends and a highly-valued Nedbank Gravel Burn colleague, Richard McMartin, who worked alongside me in the early days to establish the Cape Epic.
We were on our weekly Tuesday morning gravel ride around Table Mountain from our WeWork offices, and Richard had quite a serious crash in which he tore his AC shoulder ligament. It means he can’t ride The Kindling with us and will be off his bike for 6 months with healing and rehab. We’re all thinking of Rich and we join his many friends in wishing him a speedy and full recovery.
Also, congratulations to all the Cape Epic riders who took on the event last week. What a challenge it has obviously been, with the weather adding some serious spice.