Bike champ prepares for a bumpy ride

HILLCREST resident, Brenda Potts, is set to defend her championship title at the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge at the Eston Country Club on Sunday 4 August.

The mountain bike challenge comprises of the 60km Illovo marathon, the 40km aQuellé half-marathon and the novel 18km aQuellé or Tala Family Fun Ride. Potts will compete in the premier race, the 60km marathon.

In 2012 Potts surprised many when she won the race after spending some time on the side-lines due to a shoulder operation.

“Last year’s win came as a complete surprise for me. Eston was my first race back since I’d had my shoulder operation so I just went up there to try get back into things and for a bit of training. I was obviously very chuffed,” explained Potts.

Potts’s luck in her health has, unfortunately, not improved much since last year. During the ABSA Cape Epic in March Potts began suffering from renal failure.

“Since then I have lost a lot of training time and confidence,” she said.

Potts admitted that she is feeling nervous about the race. “Having won the 2012 race there’s now a lot of added pressure that’s on me and I’m up against a lot of really good riders, some of whom are a lot younger than me,” she said.

“I am just going to focus on enjoying the race, rather than stressing about winning it. I am just going to do my best,” concluded Potts.