Wahap (fourth left) and Sarawak Cycling Association president Dr Benjamin Hasbie (third left) are joined by other guests in activating the video clip for SIMBC 2018-AMS.
KUCHING: The winners of the Siol International Mountain Bike Challenge (SIMBC) will bring home a total of RM78,000, the largest winning prize in the Asia Mountain Bike Series (AMS).
Organised by Kuching North City Hall (DBKU), SIMBC will be held at mountain bike track at Bukit Siol along Jalan Semariang from Nov 9 to 11.
DBKU mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai who disclosed this on Thursday, said SIMBC is the seventh of the nine legs AMS series, which is being held across several Asian countries such as Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.
Wahap, who is the organising chairman, said the challenge is divided into 10 categories.
“There are seven categories for the Cross Country Challenge (XCO) namely Men’s and Women’s Elite (19 years above), UCI Men’s and Women’s Junior World Series (17 and 18 years old), Men’s Master A (30 years above), Men’s Master B (30 years above) and Sarawak closed.
“As for the Downhill (DH) there are three categories namely Men’s Elite (17 years above), Women’s Elite (17 years above) and Men’s Master (30 years above) while the third challenge is the Team Relay (XCR) category where the competitors will be vying for the Mayor’s Trophy,” he said at a press conference at a local hotel.
Wahap added that DBKU is targeting more international riders to take part in the event.
“We are expecting more participants as the prize money is the highest in the series,” he said.
“Among the objectives of this competition are to attract local, domestic and foreigners to visit Kuching to watch or participate in the event and promote Kuching and Sarawak as a sports tourism destination,” said Wahap.
The competition is also aimed at positioning SIMBC as a premier mountain bike event in Malaysia in hope that it will unearth more cycling talents.
“It will also help the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports in attracting the youth to participate in healthy activities,” said Wahap.
Originally known as Bukit Siol Mountain Bike Challenge, the annual event was first held in 2003. The race received UCI sanctioning in 2015 and was rebranded as SIMBC.
The first SIMBC race was held in 2016 thus creating history for Sarawak as the pioneer in hosting the UCI sanctioned competition.
Over 200 riders from Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, India, Timor Leste, Singapore, Portugal, Europe and Malaysia took part in the race.