Building a resilient digital race experience for the Nedbank Gravel Burn

1 min read

The Nedbank Gravel Burn needed a digital experience that could support riders and engage fans without compromising the authentic character of the race. Elixirr worked as an embedded strategic partner, designing a resilient platform built for the limited connectivity and infrastructure of South Africa’s Karoo desert.

Designed an offline-first rider app that keeps route data and communications available when connectivity is limited

Created a scalable platform to support live race positions and leaderboard data during traffic spikes

Established a unified backend across web and mobile, keeping the user experience responsive and business logic secure

The challenge

The Karoo’s intermittent connectivity and minimal infrastructure meant a standard digital platform would not be suitable.

Riders needed reliable access to route information and communications while in the saddle, regardless of signal strength. At the same time, fans following remotely needed a responsive platform capable of handling live race information and increased traffic on race day.

Every digital feature also needed to serve a clear purpose for the race, its riders or the wider community.

The approach

Elixirr embedded directly within the Nedbank Gravel Burn team through a Value-in-Kind arrangement, creating shared accountability for the race’s long-term success. This allowed the team to move beyond a tactical feature list and establish clear strategic priorities for the digital experience.

We designed a lean, headless platform using React and React Native for the frontend, Hasura for GraphQL orchestration and AWS for cloud scalability. A unified backend kept business logic centralised and secure while allowing the web and mobile experiences to remain light and responsive.

The rider app was built around an offline-first architecture, using a local SQLite database to store route data and communications. Information synchronises when connectivity returns, with server-side conflict resolution maintaining a single source of truth.

For the fan experience, CloudFront caches static assets while Redis supports live race positions and leaderboard data.

The impact

The resulting digital ecosystem was designed around the realities of the race environment. Riders could retain access to essential information when connectivity was unavailable, while fans could follow live progress through a platform built to remain responsive during periods of high demand.

The engagement also gave the Nedbank Gravel Burn a scalable digital foundation that could support its growing international profile without losing sight of the race experience itself.

By combining strategic direction with technical delivery, Elixirr helped turn digital technology into an integrated part of the event rather than an addition to it.