THE annual Compendium Midmar Notts road cycle race was held on Sunday on the scenic Midlands Meander route.
In pursuit of safe cycling, the race was moved further into the Midlands to Michael House College, thus accommodating a more secure start/finish.
It remains the traditional 80km distance which was simply 40kms up and 40kms down but now the route is 20kms up to Nottingham Road, 40kms down to Midmar Dam and ending with the remaining 20kms of climbing to Michael House.
The misty, wet and cold conditions contributed to a late start but cyclists still enjoyed the race. Toti was well represented with four Amanzimtoti Cycle Club riders sprinting in the leading bunch of 20 for the win. They managed six top 10 finishes in their respective age categories. It was a very exciting race, with Bryan Cusack coming in second overall, in a time of 1:59:21.
Check the summary of results below for an indication of the nail-biting finish. Candice Parker-Dennison rode exceptionally well and came first in her age category. Rienie Beneke came second in her age category and Karin Liebenberg came a respectable third in her age category for the 60kms distance.
80km: Second Bryan Cusack 1.59.21, sixth Bryan Powell 1.59.25, 15th Dylan Chapman 1.59.32, 20th Hendrik Bester 1.59.34, 23rd Dillon Holm 1.59.35, 28th Wesley Parker-Dennison 1.59.49, 41st Wihelm Tesnaar 2.09.09, 60th Vusi Ntuli, 2.14.06, 73rd Ian Sayer 2.17.32, 78th Andre Pretorius 2.19.56, 100th Lawrence Herron 2.25.03, 106th Candice Parker-Dennison 2.26.43, 149th Carl Freyer 2.30.53, 150th Fred Kingsley 2.30.54, 162nd John Shore 2.34.28, 175th Ron Waldburger 2.38.40, 176th Pierre le Roux 2.38.40, 204th Rienie Beneke 2.46.01,207th Christo Botha 2.46.43, 259th Nikita Turck 2.59.59, 288th Hannes Beneke 3.12.29, 293rd Gary Marquis-Jones 3.14.13, 324th Teegan Parker-Dennison 3.27.47, 325th Carlie Parker-Dennison, 3.27.48, 326th Peter Parker-Dennison 3.27.49.
60km: 11th Anton Booysen 2.38.57, 12th Stephen van Rooyen 2.38.57, 22nd Karin Liebenberg 2.52.40, 23rd Bobby Liebenberg 2.52.41.
Thinking of starting to ride? Amanzimtoti Cycle Club has an excellent training track at Amanzimtoti Sports Centre. They have training rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5.30pm. It is primarily for mountain bikes but there are chicken runs for those who find some technical sections too daunting.
