On Saturday morning driving to the race start the weather didn’t look very promising. It was drizzling which meant a muddy and wet course awaited us.
On arrival at the race venue, situated on the North-Western outskirts of Pretoria, the weather was still the same. This dampened my spirit slightly but was soon overshadow by the warm welcome of the race organiser and the friendly atmosphere at the race. I am sure this was the reason why the weather decided to join in on the mood and cleared up just before we set of for the 60km race.
Waiting on the start line, more and more girls came to join me including top Multi-Sport Athlete Carla van Huyssteen. I haven’t raced against Carla for a long time and with her SA National Championships in two week’s time, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race.
The race started with two climbs mostly on single and jeep track. On this part I managed to open a slender lead on my rivals. On the flat section which followed around 15 km into the race a group of 5 riders formed behind me. At first I didn’t mind as I was mainly focusing on increasing my lead on the other girls. But a few kilometres on I saw Carla was also in the group. I decided to rather race a bit smarter and sat up to save some energy for when I really would need it.
With no one wanting to contribute to the pace we were joined by more and more riders as the kilometres ticked by. Around 35km the route went onto a slight drag and here I decided to try and do something. I managed to get away on my own and quickly settled into a steady pace.
The section that followed was mainly on single track and got quite tricky on the rocky descending parts. I was happy to be on my own as one can judge and prepare much better for what’s to come.
Within 2km from the finish line a marshal pointed me in the wrong direction. I only realized that I was on the wrong route when I came to a closed gate. I wasn’t the only one to be sent the wrong way, and soon I was joined by more lost riders. The farmer who’s property the race was going through luckily spotted us and directed us to the finish line.
Carla was also one of the riders who went the wrong way so we both didn’t know what the end result would be. Without anyone of the riders complaining or appealing the race organiser called us and said that I will keep my 1st place and Carla her 2nd place. I was amazed by the positive reaction of everyone involved. It is very rare that races can sort out these type of problems fairly and without fuss. Everyone involved should be commended for their positive attitude.
Despite the route being wet and a bit muddy at places, I had a good time. The course was great, the event very well organised and, like I mentioned before, the atmosphere around the race was quite exceptional.
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