Tshwane Diamond Road Classic
The Tshwane Diamond Classic, presented by Hectic Promotions (a non-profit organisation), is a brand-new National Classic road race for Gauteng!
Hectic Promotions annually present the Bestmed Cycle4CANSA and the Tshwane Classic, in association with Jacaranda FM. Since its incorporation into the Tshwane Metro, Cullinan represents the perfect location for a mass participation road cycling event with delightfully quiet roads with good road surfaces, and it’s situated only 30km from the centre of Pretoria.
The event starts and finishes at the impressive Baviaanspoort Correctional Facility. The date falls within a wonderful climate time on the Highveld when Fall temperatures are mild and the chances of rain slim, ensuring that the race optimises the potential participant base.
The race will boast a prize fund of R20 000.
The road race presents a feature 110km distance while a 50km fun ride distance also forms part of the weekend to make the event as inclusive as possible.
We also have a kids’ event and a fun walk inside the correctional facility terrain to complete the picture.
The traction of the Tshwane Diamond Classic is locked into the delightful and quiet Sunday morning road conditions around Cullinan as well as the Tshwane Metro’s support and the town’s vicinity to the major cycling catchment area represented by Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Route Description:
Since its incorporation into the Tshwane Metro, vast sections of the roads in and around Cullinan have been consistently resurfaced. Years ago, the town hosted many recognised road rides, but as road surfaces deteriorated it became less and less suited to hosting road races.
This has changed over the past two years and our route designer, David Labuschagne, has put together a delightful route which is safe, challenging, and which ticks all the boxes to make effective route control possible. Labuschagne heads up Pretoria’s largest cycling club, The Bestmed Bicycle Company, and his club has committed to coming out in full force on race day.
The 110km route presents 1030metres of elevation gain and is mildly undulating, except for a sharp climb on the outskirts of Cullinan at the Petra Diamond Mine up to the 18km mark, which is set to stretch the bunches early on.
The route starts on Zambezi Drive (R513) towards Cullinan from the Baviaanspoort Correctional and runs from Cullinan towards Rayton and Bronkhorstspruit.
From Bronkhortspruit it loops back to Cullinan anti-clockwise to ensure predominantly left turns and then does a final loop around Cullinan before joining up with Zambezi Drive again to finish in the opposite direction to the start.
The 50km route presents 561metres of vertical ascent and cuts out the long-distance loop towards Bronkhorstspruit and back.
The split/join point for the two distances is in Cullinan.
Activities at the Venue:
A kids’ race (3-4 year-olds and 5-7 year-olds) and 5km fun walk for the entire family is presented in conjunction with the road race at Baviaanspoort. Participants can enter on the morning at the Rugby Stadium Race Office for a R10 donation towards the upkeep of the facility.
The kids race and 5km fun walk will start at 08h00.
It is a stated aim of the event to incorporate the entire family, and the kids’ races are always very popular at our events. It is the highlight for many families. Kids take part, and everyone is a winner with every child receiving a medal and goody bag.
Ample drinks and eats will be on sale at the venue – the catering is done masterfully by Correctional Services – while ample ablutions and parking are available at the facility’s rugby stadium. Clubs can also erect gazebos on the rugby field from early morning.
Baviaanspoort Correctional boasts beautifully shaded braai facilities surrounding the dam and riders can bring their “dop en tjop” along to braai on the banks of the dam – entrance to the dam is a donation of R20 towards the upkeep of the facility.