Jason takes SA champ 2015 title
Hillcrest High School pupil takes us through the nitty gritties of his successful race.
FOR Grade 9 pupil at Hillcrest High School, Jason Williams (15), going fast on his bicycle down steep hills, through forests and trailed areas is all the fun he needs.
As the newly-crowned SA National Champion in the Youth Men’s category (15 to 16), Jason started racing downhill mountain bikes just 18 months back after attending a World Championship event held in Pietermaritzburg in late 2013. Finding his first bike on Gumtree and persuading his dad to buy it for him, he entered his first race just three days later.
Coming from a Moto X background, Jason started riding motorbikes at the age of four, and after moving with his family from Eshowe to Forest Hills, he tried his hand at BMX and later mountain biking in the school series. Jason’s passion to compete on two wheels and his love for extreme action sports have made him a perfect fit for the sport of downhill racing.
The SA National Championships were held at Jonkershoek just outside Stellenbosch on Sunday, 19 July.
Jason said, “On Sunday morning, race day, we woke up early and got to the track before sunrise. The race organisers had announced the previous day that shuttles would start at 7.45am and the seeding runs at 10am. I needed to get in another two practice runs just to confirm my lines and run the track trough my head a last time before it was time to put it all together in the final timed run.
“Out of the gate and into one of the first few corners I made a small mistake, but confident that I had not lost too much time I pushed down the mountain, hitting every line and jump as I had practiced. My bicycle worked like a dream, soaking up the rutted track and railing every corner like a train. Reaching the finish line, I waited for the commentator to announce my time: two minutes and 39.875 seconds came over the PA. I was stoked, I had the fastest time that far,” said Williams. He had managed to knock four seconds off his seeding run time at two minutes and 41.243 seconds.
“I could not believe it, I had won, I was SA Champ for 2015,” he said.
