The 19th edition of our beloved Xiwuqi event is scheduled for 10 to 12 July and once again features a King of the Grassland Challenge comprising of a three-day competition with road cycling, MTB riding, sprint duathlon and a new offroad or cross country run. Details of each competition are now available and registration for the various races will open within the next couple of days.
The ‘KOG’ multisport challenge is for the strong men and women amongst you, but of course you can also choose to do only the running or only the road cycling or MTB. Cyclists can look forward to an extended programme compared to previous years with two races for road and MTB each. While Sunday’s schedule still features the 125km Cyclo Xiwuqi for road bikers and the 81 km offroad version for mountainbikers, Saturday afternoon’s schedule has been revised. Not only has the road race been extended from 50km to 100km – including brand new section never done before in Xiwuqi – , but now there is also a separate 40km long MTB race.
The cross country run measures approx 23km (course to be finalised in June but will not exceed 24km) and will show runners amazing vistas of the Xiwuqi grasslands from the top of three distinct hills along the running course. The offroad sections are approx 75-80% of the total distance, but it is runable and perfectly doable with regular road running shoes. Unless it were to be raining, in which case some people might prefer trail or XC shoes that are generally slower but offer more grip.
Less ambitious runners can also choose the traditional 10km ‘fun run’ , which offers a glimpse of the grassland as well.
The Xiwuqi Route 99 Outdoor Sports Festival starts on Friday morning already with the sprint duatlon as in the previous two years. The course of the duathlon is unchanged and measures just below 5 km. Note that this is a bike-run-bike race, instead of the usual run-bike-run. To note also is that the sprint duathlon participation is reserved exclusively for people doing the whole KOG tournament.
