An excellent time of two hours, 39 minutes and 55 seconds is what it took Reynard Butler of the Team ProTouch to conquer the 116km race during this year’s 30th edition of the Dis-Chem Ride for Sight.
On February 18, Boksburg Stadium was abuzz with a strong presence of the top cyclists in South Africa, competing off the back of the South African Road Champs and Time Trials, and lead to some exciting racing.
Gaps were closed within a few kilometres.
At 10km to go, the last two break away riders were caught by the peloton which led to a bunch sprint.
Butler took the sprint from Nolan Hoffman and Shameeg Salie.
Also read: Cyclists to celebrate three decades of riding for sight
The women’s event was won by Carla Oberholzer in a time of three hours, 40 minutes and seven ahead of veteran Jo van de Winkel with Mandy de Beer taking third place.
The strong wind and high temperatures made racing extremely difficult for the women to make a break.
Oberholzer’s teammate, Heidi Dalton, set up the win for Oberholzer close to the finish.
Meanwhile, to restore the gift of sight, all proceeds from the event, sponsored by Dis-Chem Pharmacies and hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni, will go towards finding treatment for retinal blindness.
The event has raised over R10-million over the last 30 years to fund genetic research at the University of Cape Town.
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