‘We gave it our all at Momentum 947’

The Randmark Run, Walk, Cycle Club took on the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge recently and pedaled their hearts out.

A total of 29 people from the club participated in the race and 28 of them managed to finish, among them 17 finishing in less than four hours. The club member with the fastest time was Poenie van Niekerk who finished in two hours, 53 minutes and 57 seconds.

Randfontein’s wonder child of cycling, Lee Kotze, finished the race with a time of 3:38:10.

I started the race very early so the heat didn’t really affect me. I didn’t ride as well as I wanted to. I had some trouble with my bike. The gears started to slip so I could ride most of the race in the lower gears only.”

This year’s cycle challenge will be Lee’s last year as a junior. Next year she will be riding in the u.23 category. It also will be her matric year so she’s looking at spending more of her time in the books and less time on training.

“I’ll still train and participate in races. I just have a more relaxed approach to next year.”

At the more experienced end of the spectrum, Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge veteran Nico Smit completed his 19th one.

When the Herald asked Nico how he got into cycling he humbly said, “There was just something in me that wanted to cycle. It just happened.”

His days consist mostly of training.

It’s just a way of a life. You have to stay fit,” he said.

Paul Kotze, also a cyclist from the club and a friend of Nico told the Herald Nico works night shift.

On race day he did his night shift, went to do the race, got home to sleep a while and went back to work.

For Thys de Beer, another cyclist from the club it was guts and glory after taking a hard fall at the competition but still finished the race with a time of 3:07:25. After the event he was admitted to hospital.

This clearly shows the calibre of sportspeople Randmark has.

94.7 Cycle Challenge times for Randmark Cycling Club:

• 1st – Poenie van Niekerk (2:53:57)

• 2nd – Danie Steyn (2:54:12)

• 3rd – Mauritz Botes (2:55:11)

• 4th – Jana Jonker (3:03:00)

• 5th – Paul Kotze (3:04:16)

• 6th – Thys de Beer (3:07:25)

• 7th – Sean Botha (3:10:25)

• 8th – Jan Kotze (3:12:10)

• 9th – Reese Shelver (3:13:07)

• 10th – Jannie Tied (3:20:46)

• 11th – Peter Koen (3:24:48)

• 12th – Steph Herbst (3:29:24)

• 13th – Johan van Duyn (3:31:04)

• 14th – Amelia van Duyn (3:31:04)

• 15th – Lee Kotze (3:38:10)

• 16th – Nico Smit (3:39:15)

• 17th – Andre van der Merwe (3:49:49)

• 18th – Tiaan Visser (4:01:41)

• 19th – Annemarie Jacobs (4:05:33)

• 20th – Hoender Williamson (4:18:54)

• 21st – Jan Smit (4:24:37)

• 22nd – Linda Stander (4:29:04)

• 23rd – Johan Fourie (4:32:25)

• 24th – Ricardo Da Sousa (4:33:56)

• 25th – Hannie Doogan (4:36:40)

• 26th – Sandra Herbst (4:52:45)

• 27th – Charmaine Wright (5:31:52)

• 28th – Clive Wright (5:33:21)

• 29th – Lizeth Rowan (DNF)

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Also read:

Cyclist dies after 94.7 Cycle Challenge

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