Although strong morning winds made for alternate finish section arrangements, the short, but exhilarating course kept spectators glued to their seats for Sunday’s KZNMTB Provincial Downhill Championships at Cascades MTB Park.
Among the champions crowned, were Elite Men’s Champ and fastest man down on the day Christopher Philogene, while Sabine ‘Beanie’ Thies claimed the prize for the fastest Overall Women’s category, first Youth Woman, and third Youth overall.
Originally planned to finish on two tabletops in the Cascades forest, the tables were removed from the route because of the strong winds. Riders had to ride around this section to the end, which required a fast and hard pedal sprint.
The championships consisted of two runs – the best of both then counted towards the final result. Results were often very close between the first and second runs, proving the consistency of many of these riders.
Philogene (Fox Head South Africa, Lapierre South Africa), who was the second fastest man at the KZNMTB Provincial Enduro Championships on Saturday, once again loved his racing the day before, but reserved most of his energy for Sunday.
‘Today was really loose out there and it was very hard to try and keep it on two wheels. The wind played a huge role in the forests – even though we were in the trees it still affects you and you still lose a bit of speed.
‘You never know what you’re feeling like, compared to what your time is going to be. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t do the jumps at the end because of the wind and had to go around, but it was quite different and a great challenge because we had to pedal to the end,’ he said.
Young dynamite package, ‘Beani’ Thies (GM Cycles, Foxhead SA, Specialized Bicycles, Blu Gel, Dirt Junki) who was the fastest female rider at Saturday’s Enduro Championships, said: ‘Its been a hectic season, but its come to an end now for KZN. Today started off well. My first practice run was good, but I had a bit of a lie down on my second one. I didn’t get hurt though, so I was fine.’
Thies said she reserved most of her energy for her second race run. ‘I was conservative and I just played it safe because I’m going overseas soon, so I didn’t want to risk anything.
‘I have no idea what I did on the second run to get the same time as my first, but I did it. The race organisers put some nice new changes in the track, which was a really cool surprise,’ she said.
The McMaster brothers, Cullen and Struan, also showed brilliant consistency on their rides, and claimed themselves each a spot in the Overall Men’s podium.
In the main picture is Philogene and second picture is the women’s podium. Picture of Philogene courtesy of Marc Philogene
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Overall Men
1 Christopher Philogene 2min 00.25sec
2 Jonathan Philogene 2:03.10
3 Timothy Bentley 2:03.47
4 Cullen McMaster 2:06.46
5 Struan McMaster 2:06.79
Overall Women
1 Sabine Thies 2:43.23
2 Kathryn Fourie 03:04.49
3 Sonja Engelbrecht 03:20.79
Elite Men
1 Christopher Philogene 2:00.25
2 Jonathan Philogene 2:03.10
3 Timothy Bentley 2:03.47
Junior Men
1 Cullen McMaster 2:06.46
2 Sharjah Jonsson 2:12.84
3 Keira Duncan 2:14.82
Youth Men
1 Connor Finnnis 2:17.13
2 Kayle Seaward 2:17.30
3 Jared Piek 2:54.9
Youth Women
1 Sabine Thies 2:43.23
Sub Junior Boys
1 Kyle Brand 2:50.56
Sub Veteran Men
1 Christopher Pearton 2:17.68
2 Ollie Jones 2:35.79
3 Wayne Sives 2:47.90
Sub Veteran Women
1 Kathryn Fourie 3:04.49
2 Nikki Alvin 3:26.94
Veteran Men
1 Craig Seaward 2:25.27
2 Jason Hall 2:30.21
3 Tyrone Pinnoy 2:37.64
Veteran Women
1 Sonja Engelbrecht 3:20.79
Master Men
1 Alastair Brand 2:49.61
Sprog Boys
1 Keagan Brand 2:39.73
2 Nate Tanner Hall 2:40.97
3 Liam Tyler Hall 2:48.06
Nipper Boys
1 Cullum Finnis 3:44.62
2 Vaughn Preston 4:02.01