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)
Attekwas Extreme MTB Challenge - 28/01/2012
After a lovely December with beautiful summer days and long base-mile rides, the 2012 racing season started early for me; as always with the Attakwas race!
This year was the sixth edition of the race and the route was kept unchanged from last years’ format.
Attakwas is known as an extremely tough ultra-marathon, testing your physical strength and fitness, your skills and your mental endurance. For some strange reason I love this race (maybe a touch of madness…) and have raced every single year since it started in 2007. It is always a good wake-up call to test your early season fitness and of course, a good test for those preparing for the Cape Epic. After a good December and a good break from racing, I was looking forward to racing again. Defending champ Ariane Kleynhans (Contego), Kathrin Stirnemann – a top XC rider from Switzerland from the Cantral Haibike Pro Team, based in Stellenbosch for a few months ; as well as a long list of local competition in the ladies field would make for an interesting race.
The Attakwas race is basically broken up into 4 quarters: the first quarter consisting of mainly jeep track through the game and ostrich farm Chandelier just outside Oudtshoorn where the race starts and farms in the area. Then there is the section through Doring Rivier Nature reserve – with almost more challenging sections than the Attakwas kloof section itself. Third quarter is through the Attakwas kloof, one of the old Voortrekker Oxwagon trails and now a popular 4 x 4 trail, going to the popular Spur waterpoint at Bonniedale farm. After this it is the tough 4th quarter, where physical and mental endurance are tested to the limit…and then the welcome finish at the Pine Creek resort at Great Brak.
After extremely hot summer conditions the whole week leading up to the race, riders and race organisers were all relieved that we were blessed with a slightly cooler partially overcast morning. The ladies started with the men in A batch, so one had to be attentive from the beginning not to lose sight of each other in the dusty chaos.
I tried to keep my eye on Ariane and was somewhat surprised to see that Yolande de Villiers – also a previous winner and local from Oudtshoorn – was sticking to Ariane like glue, followed by the other Swiss rider Kathrin Stirnemann and me. The start was fast and my legs felt a bit rusty and not used to the sudden intensity but I managed to hang on to Kathrin. I knew that she was very good technically but felt sure that my experience in this race would be to my advantage in the last quarter of the race. After about 50 minutes we caught up to Yolande de Villiers and passed her, with Ariane less than a minute ahead of us. I managed to make small gaps on Kathrin on the climbs but she is superfast on the descents and caught up to me time and again. I decided it would be wiser to ride together chasing Ariane. On the rocky climb leading up to the old fort, I started cramping and struggled up the climb, a bit concerned as this was so early in the race and conditions weren’t even that hot. We went over the Queen of the Attakwas climb together; probably 4 or 5 minutes after Ariane had already made that title her own again. I was happy to follow Kathrins’ line on the descents and managed to make it to the 3rd water point at Bonniedale unscathed. A quick refill here, some Squirt lube on the chain and I was off again, grateful to have caught up with some guys who had taken a bit more time to refuel. This was really perfect, as the South Easterly wind had picked up and would be in our faces for the last 50km to the finish. Kathrin managed to hook onto our group consisting of myself and about 5 other riders, but on the second steep sharp climb out of the valley she dropped back and I was relieved that my cramps had subsided.
I am known to have a very impressive second wind and I started feeling stronger and stronger as we rode on through the relentless hills on district roads. At about 90 km I could suddenly see Arian’s figure just ahead of us, and I dug deep to catch up to her. A few kilometres later I passed her standing next to the road fixing a puncture. She was lucky to have received some assistance from two Samaritans and soon they had caught back up to my group. From here on we rode together until the climb leading up to the last water point, the men in the group having the decency to drop back and not interfere with the ladies’ battle. By this time I had run out of fluids and in the excitement had neglected to top up my fuel reserves… I knew I wouldn’t have time to stop at the water point s she would then just case on. I tried to open up a gap, digging deep and thinking Ariane was dropping off. Suddenly she crawled back up to me and just kept on accelerating towards the top of the climb. My mind had a battle with my legs, shouting at them to go faster but there was no response. It was only 10 km to the finish and mostly flat or downhill, but Ariane put in a big effort and the yellow speck kept on getting smaller and further away from me.
I was exhausted when I crossed the finish line, just over two minutes behind Ariane, who had given Contego another great win. But I was super happy with my overall performance and time of 6h07’45; 12 minutes faster than in 2011 on the same route. Kathrin Stirnemann came in a few minutes behind me in 3rd position.
This race is not for sissies and maybe not really for girls… but I love it: the scenery is unique and unspoilt, the race well organised, and the satisfaction of having survived and conquered the mighty Attakwas really is something which I guess could lead to an addiction of coming back every year
Now the “holiday” is over and our racing season has been opened! Next on my calendar will be the MTN Marathon race # 1 in Barberton on the 28th of Feb.
