"One of the biggest challenges facing healthcare funders is the effects of sedentary lifestyle and poor eating,” says Jeremy Yatt, principal of Fedhealth. "This leads to increased incidences of heart disease and metabolic conditions like diabetes." 

Fedhealth encourages its members to adopt a healthier lifestyle – the medical scheme believes that this activity is the ideal platform. “We hope that members who start to participate in this sort of event will generally eat better, cut back on smoking, and make their health more of a priority," adds Yatt.

“Events generally take a while to gather their own impetus, and while our first two events were very well attended and we received a lot of favourable publicity, we felt that it was necessary to ramp up the fun factor in order to attract even more people,” he adds. 

Fedhealth’s brand positioning focuses on 'family taking care of family' and the scheme’s sponsorship of the event reinforces this. “This event allows us to demonstrate our commitment to healthy living while providing for our family of members to enjoy a fun-filled day. It also exposes our brand and our values to a larger audience of potential members, who can see the value of associating with a scheme such as ours,” says Yatt.

Just a 45-minute drive from Cape Town, the Boschendal venue has parking and accommodation in the surrounding area so that MTB families can make a weekend of it. MTB trails include a single track, mountainside jeep track, and farm road, making it the ideal venue for cyclists of all ages and skill levels.

The first 100 members who enter receive a free picnic basket filled with food. Fedhealth members can enter free of charge by typing in their membership number when entering online.

The Fedhealth MTB Challenge caters for MTB participants of all ages. Junior mountain bikers can join the Fedhealth Kids MTB Events on Saturday, 16 September while Sunday, 17 September is for more experienced mountain bikers who can choose between a 15km, 28km or 60km route.

For more information, or to enter the Fedhealth MTB Challenge, contact [email protected] or visit www.stillwatersports.com