IT was a day of sunshine and great weather for the second round of the KZNMTB Provincial XCO Series, which took place at Mazarat MTB Park in Waterfall on Saturday, 5 March.
In the U23 men’s race, the first place title as well as overall first finisher on the day went to Alan Hatherly, just ahead of elite men’s winner and teammate, Brendon Davids.
Alan was extremely happy with his win and said, “We started three minutes behind the elites, which is not the normal thing we do here at the provincials, but it was great training for me – it’s always motivation to try and close the gap. Marco Joubert and I started off at the front and went pretty hard. Unfortunately he had a fall at the top of the climb so I got the gap on him and then pretty much rode solo. I progressively got into a good rhythm and began to close the gap to the elites slowly but surely. I ended up winning overall by about six minutes. So a super good day.”
First U23 and overall woman, Frankie du Toit, said: “The last national wasn’t too great for me, so I had to come back this weekend and just hope it would be a better race. I went hard from the start and pulled a gap on the rest of the women’s field in the first lap and maintained that for the rest of the race. I got to then kind of race at my own pace, and I’m a bit sick so I didn’t push myself too hard. But it was great, I really enjoyed the ride and the course and the venue was such a treat. It was quite tight and there were a lot of turns but there was just such a good vibe.”
The third round of the KZNMTB XCO takes place at St Ives in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Saturday, 22 April.
KZNMTB Provincial XCO Series 2 results:
Sprog boys
1. Nicholas de Bruin 00: 33:15
2. Jonathan Watts 00:34:58
3. Liam Richard Theunissen 00:35:21
Sprog girls
1. Emma Clipstone 00:44:15
2. Riley Smith 00:49:25
Nipper boys
1. Connor Wright 00:24:07
2. Logan Stander 00:26:37
3. Luca Zietsman 00:28:23
Nipper girls
1. Hannah Elliot 00:30:35
Youth men
1. Cian Leveridge 01:11:23
2. Aaron Michell 01:14:29
3. Hayden Vinnicombe 01:15:35
Youth women
1. Tiffany Keep 00:53:44
2. Courtney Smith 00:58:56
3. Megan Bircher 01:05:16
Junior men
1. Thomas Jessop 01:04:41
2. Kelvin Green 01:06:04
3. Felix Manke 01:07:21
Junior women
1. Chriestie-Leigh Hearder 01:18:54
2. Sabrina van Wyk 01:27:27
U23 men
1. Alan Hatherly 01:25:23
2. Marco Joubert 01:30:48
3. Devon Smith 01:42:35
U23 women
1. Frances du Toit 01:10:59
2. Hayley Smith 01:12:00
3. Genevieve van Coller 01:20:14
Elite men
1. Brendon Davids 01:32:16
2. Stuart Marais 01:33:14
3. Jedsom Tooms 01:35:34
Elite women
1. Mandy de Beer 01:23:12
Sub vets men
1. Sean Merredew 01:18:15
2. Duane Stander 01:18:47
3. Carl Calverley 01:21:26
Sub vets women
1. Nadine Nunes 01:26:59
Vets men
1. Warren Price 01:24:41
2. Hendrik Bester 01:25:08
3. Tim Keep 01:29:22
Vets women
1. Natalie Bergstrom 01:19:36
2. Landy Puddu 01:26:46
3. Belinda Mason 01:34:18
Masters men
1. Charles Young 01:12:45
2. Brian Magor 01:16:07
3. Tony Stark 01:18:26
Masters women
1. Marie du Toit 00:52:50
Grand masters men
1. Charles Stander 01:02:28
2. George Eybers 01:09:05
3. Mike Staphorst 01:26:34
Grand masters women
1. Frances Marsburg 00:47:05
