The mountain biking winter league in Dalmatia was founded five years ago with just 20 contestants. With the expansion of recreational cycling, even more recreational clubs began joining the MTB winter league in Dalmatia - and today there are 20 clubs who participate. Thus, there are now 12 races held every second Sunday from mid-October to early April, and each race hosts around 150 to 220 participants.
Ivan Marin, president of the Split club BK Timun and member of the organizing committee for the event "Gornja Podstrana" (which will be held this Sunday), says that such "XC Winter League Dalmatia" contestants have thorough preparation for the recreational competitions. The youngest participant is 14 years old, and the oldest is Uncle Luka Jakovljević from Zadar who is 71 years - his wife watches every race.
“It's not easy terrain, and he does not come first, nor last, but is somewhere in the middle,” reveals Marin.
He adds that the under-20 category at first had no participants, and now the race has about 20 participants.
“These are young cyclists who have been training in clubs, and children cyclists. They are mostly high school students. On weekends they do not go out, but they wait to race. They would like to race every day. These are children of desire, they are first class and a true team,” adds Marin. He points out 17-year-old Rocco Fržop of conductive club Orlov krug is a consecutive Croatian champion and role model for the younger cyclists.
"The races create friendships between cyclists from various cities. Most participants are in the category between 30-40 years of age. In the last two years there has been the greatest increase in the group with 40-50 years of age. Everyone was previously engaged in other sports, such as rowing or swimming, and all are healthy and have an urban way of life. The most massive turnout is on the stretch from Pakoštane to Primosten. There are doctors, entrepreneurs, professors in colleges and schools. One of the most active members of Timun is gynecologist Dino Markovina."
“The best cyclists from the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina join us because they have nowhere to train in winter, except on the treadmill or in the gym. They come from Montenegro, followed by Zagreb residents, and there is even the gentleman from Belgium who has a house on Ciovo, and the regular married couple of triathletes from Poland,” adds Marin, who is an entrepreneur and volunteer at the fire department in Žrnovnica.
When asked about the cycling potential in Dalmatia…
“This is the story of a cycling boom. And I began to cycle seven years ago,” he states.
It seems that there is no longer any place in Dalmatia that has not been touched by cycling, from Stankovci, Promina, Vrpolje, Vinišća, Konavle, Podstrana, Kamešnica, Vid near Metkovic, Grebaštica, near Lake Vrana, Sinj and Knin.
The last winter league race was held in mid-December in Konavle.
“The hosts made sure that participants were provided affordable accommodation in a four-star hotel in Dubrovnik. We all arrived the day before, and we enjoyed the Advent concert on Stradun with Crvena Jabuka. We had some fun. The rides were a recreational marathon of 30 km and with 600 to 700 meters of ascent on local hills. We passed through old villages, over abandoned dirt roads, between the old fields..”
You can read the full story on Slobodna Dalmacija here.
