Only the brave tackle Avelanche

The beautiful scenery of tropical forests, open grasslands, rivers, dams, ravines, mountains and breathtaking views welcomed numerous cyclists to the Valencia Mankele Avelanche last weekend.

The race was run over two days with the riders doing two runs of three different courses. The best-timed run of each course counted towards the result.

The courses were mostly downhill single track with lots of technical sections including plenty of rocks, drop-offs, bush tunnels, wooden bridges and steep mine shafts, so knowing the difference between the front and rear brake was crucial. The single track was techinical, but nothing worse than in the Isuzu 3 Towers Stage Race. Each course was about nine to 10 kilometres long.

The main competition was between the cross-country specialists Max Knox and Samantha Sanders. Downhill junkies Hayden Brown and Tiaan Odendaal showed what they’re made of, but the cross-country riders seemed to have a slight advantage with their higher fitness level.

Locals Max and Sammy won but there was huge competition between Mark Meyer of Mankele and Dirk Lourens of Hectorspruit – on the weekend

Dirk managed to hold off Mark for bragging rights.

Here are the times for the three stages in total:

Open men

1. Max Knox – 50 minutes and 33 seconds

2. Hayden Brown – 52:04

3. Tiaan Odendaal and Dirk Lourens both finished in 52:52.

Open women

1. Samantha Sanders – 57:59

2. Elja van Urk – 01:02:16

3. Amy McDougall – 01:03:34.