Ain’t no mountain high enough for Hill
Andrew Hill claimed his sixth win in the 40km MTB marathon at the STIHL Sharks Trail Adventure at the weekend.
HILLCREST local, Andrew Hill, pedalled to a sixth title in seven years with his emphatic win in the 40km MTB marathon at the STIHL Sharks Trail Adventure at the Summerveld Estate on Sunday.
Riding on trails that he regularly trains on, the TIB Insurance ace asserted himself early on in the race. His power on the hills, his speed on the single-track and roads through the sugar cane fields were pleasing for him after a recent long distance training in the Valley of 1 000 Hills.
“I have just come back from a three-day training camp where we did about 6 500 metres of climbing, so I was really feeling it! But it was encouraging to muster up some speed today,” said Hill.
Andrew praised the course designer, Ewan Cochrane, as he made a lot of changes to the routes and took the riders and runners to higher vantage points, and brought them back on well-thought out contour roads.
“He added in a lot of new sections, smoothed some out and actually added in some sections that I had never ridden before, which is unusual because I train here all the time,” he added.
Shelley Higgo took the women’s title from Nadine Nunes and Gisela Stephens.
The well supported 20km MTB ride was won by Nick Burczak, well clear of a scrap for second between Chad Smith and Justin Swanepoel.
A last minute decision to enter the 18km trail run panned out well for two Valley of a Thousand Hills athletes who are team mates in Martin Dreyer’s Merchants Change A Life Academy.
The 26 year old, Mthobiso Mzolo, showed his class on the hilly run to take the overall line honours. He was trailed by Puseletsdo Dladla, who won the women’s title and finished second overall.
“The route was fantastic and the weather was amazing, so it was a great day for my first time at this race,” said Dladla.
Mthobiso was delighted with his win, which brought down the curtain on his competitive year.
“There was plenty of climbing and I worked hard on the climbs.” he said.
The festive day wrapped up, from an athletic point of view, with an easy 10km MTB ride before there signature Sharkie Kids race.
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