Clarens MTN Series

The event was held in Clarens, a little village situated in the foothills of the Maluti-Mountains in close proximity to the Golden Gate National Park.

The woman in the Marathon event (80km) started alongside the Elite men in the Ultra-Marathon (109 km). The group left the village square with a neutralised start on the gravel roads. We headed on the tar road towards Bethelem and cycled for about 3km before we turned onto some rugged singletrack. As we turned the guys started to lift the pace, which lead to the group being spread out all along the trail.

Yolandi de Villiers (Cycle lab), Ischen Stopforth and Samantha Oosthuizen were in front of me going onto the singletrack. I sat only a few meters behind them preferring to have a better view of what was coming.

I struggled to get into a rhythm on the bumpy trail and couldn’t get myself to sit comfortably on my bike. It felt like my bike was directing me where to go and that was everywhere except on the track.

After 15km of singletrack we reached a district road. Upfront I could see the 3 ladies working together and tried hard to get across to them before the next section of farm roads. I didn’t manage to get across but kept on pacing myself as best as I could.

I felt very demoralised for not being able to make contact again and struggled to keep up my morale. My aching knee also didn’t help the situation.

Despite everything I wasn’t going to give up. Around halfway I passed Yolandi de Villiers while she was fixing a flat tyre. Moving up into 3rd position was just what I needed to get my motivation back. Now I had to maintain my podium position.

After passing Yolandi the race took us on a hiking trail into the mountains. We were actually riding on the narrow sandstone trails. I didn’t want to look at the view because if I accidentally rode where I was looking, they might not find me again. It was a long way down! The hiking trail was scary, exciting and very hard all at the same time.

After the hiking trail we returned back onto the route finishing the last 20km on the same section of singletrack back to Clarens.

I managed to hold onto 3rd position, behind Ischen Stopforth and Samantha Oosthuisen who took 1st and 2nd place respectively.

I enjoyed the circuit even though it was extremely hard and technical. Being forced to ride trails I would normally walk was a huge boost to my confidence. The beautiful scenery of the surrounding area made the race a truly unique experience.


Results
1st Ichen Stopforth
2nd Yolandi de Villiers
3rd Yolandi du Toit