It’s one of the world’s most brutal races: 1000km with minimal sleep.
Munga riders go to some very dark places of the mind, as they battle winds in the Karoo.
The winner managed his astonishing ride on only a single power nap.
The South African mountain biking psyche is competitive, and no event encapsulates the ability to suffer through isolation, quite like the Munga.
It routes from Bloemfontein to Wellington and although your elementary geography would identify that route as being mostly downhill, it ranks a brutal endeavour, by any measure.
Alex Harris is the event organiser. An experienced climber, extreme adventure racer and explorer, Harris wished to create a uniquely South African endurance cycling challenge, through the Karoo. Since 2015 he has been routing South Africa’s hardiest mountain bikers through 1000km of unforgiving gravel riding.