101km Crater Cruise
The event started in Carl Preller Avenue opposite the horse riding Arena in Parys.
It is very popular with both on and off road cyclist and the increasing number of riders from the road participating was astonishing. Mountain biking is becoming a very popular sport.
The group rolled out on relatively flat tarmac and after 8km we went onto a rather rocky dirt road.
With 2500 participants one can only imagine the chaos in the front group. Every rider was fighting for a front seat rolling onto the dirt road.
I tried to position myself as good as possible in the group, before heading into the first of 2 stretches of singletrack. These sections lead to the bunch being spread out and formed smaller groups once back on the main dirt road around 22km.
This is when I first realized that I might be in front of my competitors. During mountain bike events it’s difficult to identify in what position you are out in the field as a lady. Throughout the event I was never thinking “I want to win this”. My focus was mostly on finding the best lines, avoiding badly corrugated sections, eating and drinking and getting to the finish line in one piece.
We ended the main dirt road with a long drag (Suikerbossie). Then from the main road we were lead through a few game farms on mostly jeep and singletrack which also included the toughest rocky climb of the day.
After we left the main dirt road (33km) it became an individual TT for me. I knew the route before hand and it helped me a lot being mentally prepared.
Coming out of the game farms the route continued on more corrugated dirt roads before we turned onto a farm with more technical singletrack, including some rock gardens, sandy spots and short steep climbs over rocky sections. I found this section hard because if you don’t ride smoothly through it you end up like me braking before each corner then sprinting to the next.
After this section I had around 20km remaining on more corrugated roads and rutted singletrack laid out on farm roads. My final 20km felt like a never ending nightmare. Everything was hurting, even my feet couldn’t bear the bumpy surface any longer.


The finish line was my rescuer on Saturday and crossing it in first place made it definitely worth doing all over again! I am very happy with my result. It’s my biggest MTB victory. One that I couldn’t and didn’t achieve on my own!!!

Race Results
1st Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta)
2nd Samantha Oosthuisen
3rd Carla Rowley.