SA XCO and Tulbagh

Hi All

Last weekend saw our team once again participating all around the country in an assortment of disciplines. Thankfully the threat of rain in the Highveld as well as in KZN never materialized allowing for a fantastic weekend of heated racing!

Firstly in the Cape there was round 3 of the MTN National series which was held in Tulbagh.  Jacques overcame a difficult start and worked his way through the field to finish 11^th overall and 7^th junior on his quest to podium in the overall series. Marcel finished 6^th U23 in the marathon distance improving on his past couple of races which was great to see and stepping him up in the overall hunt!

Fly Genevieve, fly!

Then in the start of the schools north-west series Sonika had a good battle near the front of the race only to finish 2^nd in the overall junior womens cat. This is a huge series which is growing year to year and one that we have seen many of our riders develop from. Many of our youngsters will be a part of the Gauteng series starting later in the year as well as Epic Sports offering free tech support so the team has a big presence at these events.

Alan’s happy place!

The racing also returned to the Cascades for the 1^st round of the SA Cup series with a new route (most of which will also be used for the World Cup next month) that was very spectator friendly and included some 240m vert per lap climbing! Our youngsters kicked things off both with 4^th places for Simone in the spog class and for Azulda in the youth. This was their first taste of an international level course so we are sure they learnt a lot from the experience. Then in the junior women Genevieve improved on her first xco attempt earlier this year and finished a hard earned 3^rd place. Alan shrugged off a cold earlier in the week to again show his dominance on his home course to take the overall win. Then in the elite race which was rated a UCI Cat 1 Arno and Gert were out to make their presence felt. They both had a good start but then unfortunately some unlucky lines and a crash for Arno halted the charge where eventually Arno finished 3^rd U23 and 8^th overall and Gert 4^th U23 and 11^th overall.

51 podiums so far this year and counting!

This weekend kicks off the 2014 edition of the Absa Cape Epic and even though he won’t be in our colours we will be shouting for Gert who will be racing as back-up team for the legendary Nino Schurter. This is bound to be an amazing experience for him of which the knowledge that he will gain will most definitely bring much value to his racing in the future. Then Marcel will be racing in the 3Mountain stage race in the FS and a few of our juniors will be competing in the Mankele marathon in Mapumalanga.

Until next time,

Happy trails!