The day after completing the Columbia Grape Escape 3 day team event with my teammate Nicci Grobler, I found myself standing on the start line of the Pick & Pay Cape Argus MTB Challenge.
The Boschendal Wine Estate just outside of Stellenbosch hosted the event. It was the same venue where the Grape Escape finished the day before. In many ways it felt like I was about to start stage 4.
The ladies field was very strong and with not knowing how my legs would respond after the three days of racing, my expectations weren’t very high. My plan was to try my best and see how it goes.
Under cloudy skies we were set to start alongside the elite men. This meant that the pace immediately picked up once we left the neutralized section and headed up a slight drag.
The race split up under the severe pressure being applied by the elite men as they were intent on making it a hard race.
Ariane Kleinhans and Catherine Williamson were in the group just ahead of me while I found myself in a small group behind them. Not knowing where the other ladies were behind me I decided to focus on chasing the two leaders.
The winding route made it impossible to see far ahead or behind, leaving me to chase blindly. I gave it my all knowing that in this sport anything could happen. Ariane maintained her run of success and won the race ahead of Catherine. I was pleasantly surprised that my legs were still good despite all the racing over the previous ten days and very happy to take the final podium spot in 3rd place.
The other bizhub-FCF ladies insured the team dominated the top 5 with Leana de Jager taking 4th and Ischen Stopforth 5th place.
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