Local riders make South Africa proud
The first South African lady over the line at the recent UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships, was Robyn de Groot, a member of the South African National and Infinita Cycling Academy who is being trained by a local coach, Bosseau Boshoff. De Groot took sixth place.
Quite a number of local riders participated on Sunday June 29 in and around Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. One of Mpumalanga’s favourites, Sam Sanders finished 20th. “It was a tough day out on the course and many felt they could have had a better ride. However, every cyclist who took part can be proud of themselves for completing such a technical, challenging course with the world’s best cyclists,” said Boshoff.
The Czech Republic’s Olympic gold medallist, Jaroslav Kulhavy and Denmark’s Annika Langvad were crowned champions in their respective races.
Kulhavy added the UCI title to his list of international titles when he powered to an epic win. The elite men’s race comprised more than 100 cyclists. The race pace was exceptionally fast from the gun, but the extreme technical course quickly broke up the field.
After 96 gruelling kilometres it was Kulhavy who took the win, followed by Austria’s Alban Lakata and Switzerland’s Christoph Sauser.
The first South African over the line, was James Reid in 17th followed closely by Rourke Croeser in 18th.
Langvad took top honours in the ladies race, completing the 75km in an astonishing three hours 50 minutes. With her skill and speed through the course, Langvad proved herself a force to be reckoned with in women’s endurance mountain biking.
Infinita Cycling Academy was proud to have four cyclists in the South African national team for this event:
• Robyn de Groot (SA Marathon Champ) – 6th
• Amy Beth Mc Dougal (Team Valencia) – did not finish
• Yolandi de Toit – 15th
• Sam Sanders (Team Valencia) – 20th
• Ben Melt Swanepoel – 46th
• Nico Bell – 37th
• Gawie Combrink – did not finish.
