09 May 2012 Van Wyk thrilled with victory at African Continental Championships, Mauritius
The 2012 African Continental Championships was held on the lovely island of Mauritius on the 5th of May. Team bizhub-FCF’s Junior Linda Van Wyk participated in the ...
Jade Roberts
(January 2010, Clarence Training Camp)
The Merrel Tsitsikamma Mountainbike Challenge, 9 April
2011
Only one week after the ABSA Cape Epic and still coughing the dust out of my lungs
and not really back to full energy yet, it was probably not necessary to go and
race again this weekend! But I heard only good things about the Merrel Tsitsikamma
Mtb Challenge which was held in 2010 for the first time. Starting at Tsitsikamma
Falls Adventure, about 75 km other side of Plettenberg Bay, it is not very far away
from George; the days in April in the Garden Route are probably the most gorgeous
of any season and the scenery in the Tsitsikamma Forest can only be beautiful… plus
I finally got my Specialized Stumpjumer 29’er hardtail on Thursday, so was super
eager to go out and test it!!
So i got up at 3h15 am… totally unnecessary for someone who has just spent almost
40 hrs on her bike in 8 days, getting up at 5 am every morning…somehow got my breakfast
in and left George at 4h20, to arrive at the race start just before 6h30. Race registration
was slow and 6h45 I was still in the queue to get our race numbers! With race starting
at 7am, I probably lined up without warm up with 5 min to go. I was quite glad to
see there was not much competition in the ladies field, as I had only done 1 ride
since the pic and wasn’t too confident about my legs. I was amazed at the amount
of riders that supported the event, coming from George, Knysna , Sedgefield, Plett,
J’Bay and even Cape Town!
The start was quite a bit of singletrack which then flattened out and led us into
forestry roads, and taking us on a scenic loop along the cliffs above the sea with
magnificent views. There was not as much climbing as the race entry promised, and
with only 300m ascent in the first hour I luckily didn’t need that warm-up! I enjoyed
just having an easy ride, just making sure that I was riding sae and staying in
the lead in the womens’ field. The 70km route with roughly 1000m ascent took me
2h44; and I was impressed with the way my bike handled in the singletrack, as well
as the climbs. What a nice way to spend a Saturday morning – definitely worth getting
up at 3h15!
The main sponsor for the event deserves a big thank you and applause; as you can
see in this picture they were extremely generous with their prize money and I think
some of our “big” race organisers could maybe learn something from them! The race
was well supported with two shorter distances as well, 42 & 23 km so the whole family
could enjoy a fun day outing in the African sun.
The 70km race was won by Ruan Du Toit (Cycling for Diabetes) from George with Stewart
Marais (Blend) in second position. I was the first lady in, followed by Michelle
Lombardi in second.
Now I guess it’s time to spin the legs out and get fresh and build up my strength
for Joberg2C in just over 2 weeks’ time!
