By half a second

Blood, sweat, tears, and smiles were shed and shared by all at the finish line of the 23rd annual Discovery 947 Ride Joburg.

Reminiscent of last year’s cycle which was held in the opposite direction for the first time, many elite cyclists were still not sure what to expect and this made it all the more challenging.

They still gave their all and were rewarded with endless cheers from the crowd as they crossed the finish line at Riversands Commercial Park, Knopjeslaagte on 17 November.

None of the men from last year’s podium (Brandon Downes, Steven van Heerden, and Dylan Girdlestone) were to set foot on the podium this year, but the top three men finished together within the space of a second and the women all finished within three seconds.

Marc Pritzen won the race in 2:14:41 and 300 thousandths of a second, with Office Guru teammate Alexander Worsdale 500 thousandths of a second (half a second) behind him. The 30-year-old David Maree came third another half-second behind the U23 cyclist Worsdale.

“I have never been on the podium before here although this is my eighth or ninth race,” Benoni resident Pritzen said.

“I am very happy with the win. It was quite surprising that we [the Office Guru team] got away early and always had a 30-second to the one-minute gap. We worked hard and after the highway had some attacks so we started riding ahead further and it worked.”

He thanked his team for allowing him to sprint to the win at the end despite a headwind before the finish.

Worsdale, who lives in Beaulieu, also had not been on the podium before and was proud of Office Guru’s performance as a team to see Pritzen and him take first and second.

“There were hard stretches but I had warmed up by the end,” he said.

Maree, who lives in Magaliessig, added, “My best before this was fourth place in 2010 and I have always wanted to win this as it is so close to home. I cycle here and back from my house each year. It is on my bucket list.”

Carla Oberholzer of Demacon defended her women’s title and beat her time last year by two and a half seconds, at 2:41:00.

“I am very happy with how it went and it was a positive race,” the Clarens resident said. “We [team Demacon] were ahead early and at Jan Smuts [Avenue] we broke away and then again in Kyalami. We were first off the blocks and first over the line.”

Last year’s third-place finisher, Joanna van de Winkel came second this year, 1.1 seconds behind Oberholzer. “My chain came off at the start but otherwise it was a good race for me,” she said.

“I won this race 10 years ago and wanted to win it again, but I felt good all the way.”

Seven hundred thousandths of a second later came Parys Edwards of Craighall who cycled the 947 for the first time.

“This race is superb. It was great cycling within sight of my workplace at Old Parktonian Sports Club,” she said.

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