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)
National Marathon Mountain Bike Championships
Having been away from England for 2 months now I’m finding anything English like
very exciting so was pretty chuffed to find the KwaZulu-Natal area full of rolling
green fields, thatched cottages and Tudor style houses, the only difference been
the humid weather.
The race was down at Inanda Dam, no longer English like with looming mountains and
a couple of Zebra wandering around the start area.
Our race started at 7.30 and by 7.35 I was sweating and out of breathe! The first
30km were mainly jeep tracks up and down the hills surrounding the dam. The area
known as 1000 hills should be renamed a 1000 mountains!!
1000 mountains/hills later I was riding on my own. I’d stayed with the leading group
of Cherise, Yolandi Speedy and Candice for as long as I could but found that chasing
after the descents and after a few single track sections took its toll and I dropped
off. Along a section with one of those persistent headwinds and some dodgy looking
locals I missed the company of the other three when I heard I was actually in front.
I argued there was definitely three in front but was told they’d gone wrong. Not
for long I thought as I made a hash of the single track we’d now turned on along
the edge of the dam.
Though a definite improvement in my technical skills I’m still struggling to get
through single tracks with a lot of speed and am still stuck with the ‘Right Foot
Syndrome’ whereby my right foot clips out as soon as I see a few sharp rocks! 60km
in and I was still in the lead and was now pulling back a fair few of the men who
had set off 5 minutes before us. I was priding myself on getting this far without
falling when suddenly I looked to my right up a short steep climb and seeing a big
drop down into the bushes immediately found myself down there. Unhurt apart from
jarring my neck it took a while to scramble back to the track. It’s so true that
you normally end up where you look!!
Unsure how the terrain was I stopped at the last feed for more water and was still
in the lead. Panic had long since set in about been at the front and I was looking
back at every opportunity dreading seeing the lead three chasing me back. With 12
km to go I think the final gel kicked in and on a jeep track I started going as
fast as possible. Then we turned onto more single track. Blowing now the terrain
was constant up and down, steep climbs that were just about ridable and downhills
that I didn’t even bother trying to ride! On top of that the whole course had been
very difficult to follow with only small bits of chalk on the floor and loads of
different goat tracks around. Four or five times I went the wrong way so wasn’t
surprised the lead three had gone wrong. When your alone you quickly realize there’s
no more chalk and turn round but when your with 2 others its easier to just carry
on.
On and off these single tracks we went, my feet were both cramping up and my hamstring
was threatening to until finally we approached to finish field and I crossed as
first woman much to the surprise of the spectators as to myself. I’m sure people
say that when you win you don’t feel how tired you are, well that wasn’t the case
here, I was completely shot, a warm down didn’t enter my head with the only activity
to follow was a float in the dam!
Karien van Jaarsveld came in 7 minutes later to take the National Title very closely
followed by Cherise then Candice whom I was pleased to see take a medal even though
I’m sure it wasn’t the color she had in mind.
