Crisp winter morning conditions were soon forgotten when riders brought the heat to the 2017 KZNMTB Provincial XCO Championships at Aloe Wildlife Estate, Camperdown at the weekend.
Many who had ridden it in practise sessions prior to racing had mentioned the flatness of the course, and that there were very few technical sections. This made for no rest time and excellent sprint finishes to watch for the spectators at the end of each race.
KZNMTB Provincial XCO Cup Series winner Stuart Marais claimed the elite men’s title. He raced across the line with U23 men’s winner Julian Jessop (Concept Cyclery). Marais’ consistent results this year have been a true reflection of the hard work and dedication he has put into to his sport. Brennan Anderson and Change a Life Academy’s Mboneni Nqcobo excited the crowds in their sprint finish for second and third respectively.
Marais said: ‘It was really cool racing with Julian, which made for some excitement for the crowds at the finish. It definitely wasn’t a super technical course, so there weren’t many sections where you could get away from a rider.
‘You just had to put foot and keep at it the whole way through, which is probably the reason why there were so many sprint finishes out here.’
Marais has had nine weekends of solid racing, and said that he will take some time to recover before kicking off his build-up to SA National MTB Champs in July.
Back home for the holidays from Stellenbosch University was Wartburg local Frankie du Toit (Absolute Motion), who claimed the elite women’s title ahead of Bianca Haw and Skye Davidson.
Du Toit, pictured above, mentioned that because the track lacked lots of technical sections, she had no time for a rest, and constantly had to power through the race.
The sub junior boys’ race was devastating for race leader Jordan Bold, whose tyre flipped out in the last corner, leaving him with the internal dilemma of either sprinting to the finish with his bike or trying his utmost to ride it over the line, which he crossed in fourth place.
Jonathan Watts fought a hard race against Bold and claimed the gold medal, with GO!Durban Cycling Academy’s Mncedisi Mkhize crossing the line in second to take the silver. Daniel van der Watt claimed the bronze medal to round off the podium.
GO!Durban’s Mkhize celebrated his silver medal with his team, whose pride could be seen for miles. ‘Today’s race was nice, but it was so tough. It’s taken me six months to get here, and I am so happy,’ he said.
Another dramatic and thrilling race finish was that of the vets men’s race, as Ewan Cochran and Warren Price threw their hearts into their efforts and powered to the photo finish that saw Price just pipping Cochran to the post. Third place went to Carl Adendorff.
Riders and their families stayed afterwards to braai and reflect on what had been a phenomenal day out among the aloes.
Pictures of the elite men’s podium and Du Toit racing to victory courtesy of Gavin Ryan/QuickPix
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Elite Men
1 Stuart Marais 1hr 40min 44sec
2 Brennan Anderson 1:45.55
3 Mboneni Ngcobo 1:45.56
Elite Women
1 Frankie du Toit 1:36.33
2 Bianca Haw 1:40.08
3 Skye Davidson 1:50.52 *
4 Kelly Simkiss
U23 Men
1 Julian Jessop 1:40.45
2 Komborero Bere 1:46.16 *
3 Henry Liebenberg 1:48.28
4 Devon Smith 1:49.33
* denotes out of town rider