Local rider races to victory
Andrew Hill clinched a win during his debut Sappi Scottburgh MTB Race.
HILLCREST resident and avid mountain biker, Andrew Hill was victorious at this year’s Sappi Scottburgh MTB Race on Sunday.
The local rider and his three nearest rivals Andrew Johnson, Jedson Tooms and Andrew Warr worked harder than expected after navigational errors by the initial lead quartet that erased their early advantage.
“It’s nice to come down to this great South Coast race for the first time and get the win, especially as there was some serious talent that came to race this year,” said Andrew. “I knew the climbs were going to be where I could get a bit of an advantage today so I tried to make the pace quite hard on the ascents early on and thankfully my tactics paid off as I got the King of the Mountains hotspot.
“Myself and a couple of the guys behind me then had a bit of a mix up with markings and by the time we realised and turned around, we rejoined just behind the top five.
“We raced our way back through the field and once I got back in front, I just put my head down and looked to hammer it all the way through to the finish,” he said.
Despite the unplanned disruption, Andrew’s Sappi Scottburgh MTB Race debut was one he thoroughly enjoyed and was highly impressed by the 45km course.”This race is all about exploring the area via some incredible single track, some good climbs and even some technical, off-camber stuff – there’s a bit for everyone at this race.”
While Hill charged to victory, riders chopped and changed positions behind him and Hendrik Bester claimed second place and RMB Change a Life MTB Academy’s Mboneni Ngcobo grabbed a memorable third place.
Results:
Men:
1.Andrew Hill 1:43.53
2.Hendrik Bester 1:46.16
3.Mboneni Ngcobo 1:46.22
4.Jedson Tooms 1:46.58
5.Andrew Warr 1:48.26
Women:
1.Candice Parker-Dennison 2:04.09
2.Debrah Thomas 2:12.22
3.Nataschka Mowat 2:12.37
4.Riana Niehaus 2:15.09
5.Caryn Harvey 2:20.52
28km dash and splash:
Men:
1.Chad Stevenson 1:29.18
2.Richman Soboyisi 1:29.46
3.Brad Soulsby 1:30.35
Women:
1.Marina Thorne 2:02.14
2.Zinnia Freitas 2:02.24
