Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge celebrates third year
Karl Platt (Team Bulls) wins in Langkawi
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Platt and Schneitter aim to defend titles
The Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge will run its third edition on October 15-20, 2012 in Malyasia. The action will happen all over the island of Langkawi as racers compete for US$125,000 in cash.
Defending champion Karl Platt of Germany, who is ranked number one in the UCI marathon world series, will return to defend his title. Steffen Thum, Simon Gegenheimer, Burry Stander, Florian Vogel, Todd Wells and Nick Craig are among the other top contenders expected in the men’s category.
Among the ladies, Burry Stander’s wife Cherise Stander, who races both road and mountain bike events, will be challenging defending champion Nathalie Schneitter. Blaza Klemencic and Eva Lechner.
Origins of a young mountain bike stage race
Race promoter Abdul Azim Adnan explained how the event came to be. “It was an idea that had been germinating in the mind of Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who also generated the idea of Le Tour de Langkawi in 1996. He wanted a cycling event of an international stature to help promote Langkawi to the world.”
“With Tun Dr Mahathir as the driving force, I was given the task of executing the idea, given my background as a former national cyclist and my role as the CEO of Human Voyage Sdn Bhd, an event management company. So within a short period of time, we managed to pull all our resources and with the help of our sponsorship partners, we attracted as many as 800 riders for the inaugural event.”
LIMBC is open to all levels so that the more casual enthusiast can also experience a world class course and participate alongside the world’s best – a format adopted by many such mountain bike stage races.
“Participants will get to enjoy the best Langkawi can offer – treasured landmarks and beauty spots including Eagle Square, Telaga Harbour, Oriental Village, Langkawi GeoPark and a stunning beach finale at Pantai Kok,” said Adnan. “Best of all, you sweat it out and after all the adrenaline-pumping action, you can conveniently park your bike somewhere and take a vacation. Langkawi is a true ecological
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