Illovo Eston MTB Challenge

This was my second time competing at Illovo. I enjoyed the event last year, despite the dreadful weather which had us racing in cold, rainy weather on a very muddy course. This year they somehow improved the already great course and on top of that we had ideal weather with clear skies and sunshine throughout the day.

The new course included some spectacular flowing single track. Personally this made the event more interesting and challenging for me as single track requires more effort, skill and concentration.

The 60km route started at the bottom of a 2km climb with a Queen of the mountain spot prize being awarded to the one who reaches the top first. Needles to say we were racing full on as soon as our cleats were in the pedals.

Cherise Taylor (USN) and Candice Neethling(DCM) set the initial pace which seemed insane. Samantha Oosthuisen( Elsa Karstens Cycles) and I managed to stay with them, but their final effort just before the hot spot proved to be to much and they opened a small gap.

This left Samantha and me chasing the lead duo who was just a few seconds ahead.
Sam and I managed to keep them (Cherise & Candice) in sight but just couldn’t make contact, despite our hard effort.

Around half way we rode onto some continuous single track sections and on one of the fairly more technical sections I managed to gain a gap on Samantha.

Once out of the single track the route takes us directly onto a climb which traverses to the top. As I was climbing I looked back but could not spot Sam. From there I knew I had to use whatever I had left in my tank to keep myself distant.

The mental battle that I was fighting with myself became harder the closer I got to the finish line. Luckily the pain was only short lived and I managed to hold onto my 3rd place until the end.

Cherise and Candice stayed together until the end where they finished the race in quite an unforgettable way. Just before the line they crashed into each other, but luckily no one got hurt. Cherise was back on her bike first and managed to take the victory ahead of Candice who had to settle for 2nd place.

Glad it’s not only me who have started losing concentration near the end

Final Results:

1st Cherise Taylor (USN)
2nd Candice Neethling (DCM/Chrome)
3rd Yolandi du Toit (Bizhub)
4th Samantha Oosthuisen (Elsa Karsten cycles)
5th Carla Rowley