HIGHVELD MALL MTN CLUB 100 MTB CHALLENGE

Race results

On Sunday, 22 November 2009, our young club was proud to present our first mountain bike race. Taking hands with the Highveld Mall and Sportsmans Warehouse, we were a strong ‘team’ to make this success story happen.

The week leading up to the race had all of us cross our fingers for the weather to literally show us a ray of sunshine after a very cold seven days of pouring rain. Ryan and the guys had their hands full to re route the course in such a way that the riders would be safe in crossing the rivers. What were only little streams two weeks ago were now strong flowing rivers. We just could not play with the safety of the riders by taking any chances. A strong 10 meter bridge was built and the one river crossing was very successful. The route was designed to keep both novice and experienced riders in mind offering them the best of both worlds.

On the morning of the race we were greeted with a cool misty sight, but once the race was on its way the sky was blue and the heat was on! The riders had fun in the mud and the feedback was exceptionally positive. The marshal’s did a great job and the route markings were very good. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this blog so that we can improve the 2010 event to make it even more enjoyable for you.

On the first lap of the 52km race, Nico Bell quickly pulled away from the field opening a sizable gap. Patu Gautier, Hennie Kriek and Polixie Gautier worked hard behind him, fighting to close the gap. Just as Patu was getting Nico in his sight, he lost control of his bike on a slippery part of the course and had a small crash. This made the chase back to Bell just too hard and Patu had to settle for second with Hennie just a second behind him. In the women’s race it was great to have olimpic athlete, Marissa van der Merwe, at the start. She had a very long and hard season and for her to make time to come and support a local Mpumalanga race just shows her class and love for the sport. Marissa took the ladies title with Mene Olivier in 2^nd and Nicole Murphy in 3^rd.

The 26km race saw Johan Stemmet taking the early lead in the race. Being an Ironman athlete competing in his first mountain bike race he soon had his hands full with Adolf Krige. As Krige passed Johan, he tried to stay on his wheel for as long as possible, but as soon as they hit the flat roads, Adolf started to ride away. Johan being in the off season of the triathlete calendar just did not have the legs to mount a challenge. Mark Nilsen finished in 3^rd.

Congratulations to all the category winners, especially 11 year old Wessel Redelinghuys from Club100 winning the 14 year old category. Please come back shortly for the complete list of winners as I did not yet have it at the time of writing.

While daddy and mommy were pounding away at the pedals, the little ones got ready to start attacking the 300m slippery course put out for them. With their helmets on and the serious faces reminding me of the Armstrong Ullrich era, they just couldn’t wait for uncle Iwan to give the signal. They set off with such blistering pace making the three laps seem like a walk in the park. After a few crashes and plenty of laughs, they were all rewarded with a goody bag filled with everything children love! It is always great to see the heroes of the future having so much fun.

While the names of all the category winners were being sorted for the prize giving, the riders gathered together and enjoyed some boerewors rolls and drinks. During the wait their muddy bikes were being washed by the Sportsmans Warehouse workers during which M-Power radio station was pumping up the atmosphere with some music! What a great ending to a very enjoyable day. It would not have been possible without you and we hope to have you back again next year.

A very special thanks to all our sponsors who helped to make this event happen. Highveld Mall, especially Sandra and Nicola for all the hours put in on this event, Sportsmans Warehouse Witbank, Coca Cola Witbank, SS Timing, Wimpy Highveld Mall, Mugg and Bean Highveld Mall, Smokey Ridge Spur, Mimmos Highveld Mall and Contempo. Thanks to Ryan, Iwan, Francois, Johann and everyone else from MTN Club100 for all your time and effort.

Club100 Witbank would just want to wish Rene de Jager all the best with her recovery. Rene hurt her leg during the race and was thankfully very well taken care of by Langamed ambulance services. We greatly thank them for being there to look after any injured rider.