The event was held at Sun City Casino in the North West province, situated on the outskirts of Rustenburg.
The 103km pan flat route is laid out on the open straight roads in the Pilanesberg area. This circuit can be very hard on a windy day, but luckily we had perfect weather for racing.
I didn’t enjoy my race so much today. My legs didn’t feel so good and the route doesn’t suit me. It was almost impossible to get away with the route being so flat. Except if you have 6 or 7 girls in your team and you can use team tactics to your advantage. This was the situation with the MTN team today.
They took turns to attack us and with only a few of the girls in the large bunch willing to actually race, the gaps started to appear. The end result saw a small group containing Marissa van de Merwe, Carla Swart, Cashandra Slingerland (all MTN), Ann-Li Pretorius and Altie Clark (both Nashua) sprint for the finishing line. I was caught behind in the chasing group, together with 6 other girls. Arien Torsius (Team Delila ) and I tried hard to bring the leading group back, but unfortunately we didn’t succeed and had to be satisfied with the end result.
Subaru Mountain bike Challenge
Saturday during the road race I didn’t feel so good on my bike and on Sunday I was dreading a repeat of the previous day. The race was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. But only took off at 8:30am. This was ideal for me because it gave me 20min extra to warm up and get my legs loose from the previous day’s effort. It definitely helped me a lot, because I felt good during the event.
The start was extremely fast, with a lot of road riders also participating.
As I left the start I had to ride as hard as my ability allowed me to, because this was the most crucial point in the race. Up front I could see a small group of around 5/6 riders forming and behind them a small group chasing hard. I was just behind the chasing group, together with 4 other guys.
I saw Sanet Small (Nashua) and Laetitia Botha during the fight to get to the front just after the start. In my group I didn’t notice them around, and knew I had to work hard to stay in my current position.
The course was fairly flat, with no technical sections to speak of. This made the race extremely fast. With the race being only 50km (2x25km) long, it felt like an all out effort for 1:33min.
The group I was in worked very well together and I managed to take the win and also finished 19th overall.
I enjoyed the circuit. The route was very winding, with a lot of turns and small drags added to it.
After the event we cycled around the Casino area, and the scenery is breathtaking! The race was held at a beautiful venue, and if you don’t take a minute to look around you might miss out!
Results:
1st Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta) 1:33
2nd Theresa Ralph 1:39
3rd Karien, van Jaarsveld 1:40
4th Laetitia Botha 1:43
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