First Ascent Big Induna Mountain Bike
Race
The Big Induna is an event I look forward to every year. The
race has a great course on offer in beautiful surroundings and a warm winter
climate. What more can a rider want?
This year’s edition of the Big Induna presented some extra
excitement for both rider and spectator as it incorporated the SA National
Marathon Championships. Seeing that
Induna Adventures has put together a world class route over the years, the
event proved to be an ideal match to crown SA’s Champions.
The 73km marathon route consisted of 2 loops. The first loop
was 36km long and took us through the start/finish area before the final 39km long
loop. A large proportion of the route
was laid out on technical single track. This truly puts one’s bike handling ability
to the test as it wasn’t on open, flowing single track but instead very twisty
with sharp corners.
The race started out well for me. On the first lap I was
part of the lead group together with Robyn de Groot, Samantha Sanders and
Candice Neethling. We missed one of the direction
arrows along the route and lost quite a bit of time as we made our way back
onto the course. (Hope that answers your question to, do you guys get to see
the views when you’re racingJ)
Once back on course we found ourselves back in 5th- 8th
position. This also meant the battle for the lead had to start all over again.
We really put the hammer down as we tried to make up the
lost ground. Luckily just before completing the first loop we were back into
the leading positions.
Throughout the first loop though I felt like a yo-yo as I
couldn’t stay with Robyn, Candice and Samantha on the tricky single track
sections. For some reason I didn’t feel as agile and in control of my bike as I
normally do. Eventually the chasing back got the better of me and I lost sight
of them for the last time during the 2nd loop as they yet again
disappeared on one of the technical sections.
With Yolande Speedy and Amy MacDougall chasing just behind me there
were no time to take a breather and I had to force myself to keep pushing hard
until the very end. It was a mixture of
emotions when I crossed the finish line in 4th place at the end. One
of them was definitely relief that the suffering was finally over.
Robyn de Groot had a sterling ride taking the victory on the
day, thus making her the SA Marathon Champion for 2013. Local hero Samantha
Sanders finish in 2nd place with Candice Neethling rounding out the
podium in 3rd place proving that her European racing is paying some
dividends.
Every year I enjoy the route so much that I convince myself
that the route suits me quite well only to discover that I had more ambition
than ability. I’ll have to add some
cross country racing to my race program to be more prepared for next year’s
eventJ.
Final Results:
1st Robyn de Groot
2nd Samantha
Sanders
3rd Candice
Neethling
4th Yolandi
du Toit
5th Janine
King
No comments:
Post a Comment