Knox lives on limit of Avalanche
The Lowveld's Max Knox achieved his second consecutive Mankele Avalanche victory after a blistering performance over the weekend.
The 29-year-old professional sportsman completed the three-stage trail in a stunning time of 42 minutes and 42 seconds to earn a dominant win.
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He improved on last year’s time by more than seven minutes.
Dirk Lourens put on a much better fight this year, coming in second in 43:50.
The first woman to complete the fierce, fast and brutal track was Zandri Strydom who put on a stellar performance. She finished 15th oveall in her first ever Avalanche.
The riders were shuttled to the start at Mikon Farming trucks.
The race consisted of three stages and the riders got to do two runs on each stage. The fastest run counted.
The stages were between five and eight kilometres long.
“Max, winner from last year showed his class by winning it again this year and Dirk did much better. Zandri also put on an amazing performance. Brilliant trails with minimum injuries is always a good way to spend a weekend,” said Mark Meyer of Mankele.
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He knows the tracks like the back of his hand and finished in third position in 45:43.
On the last day Justin Victor started off in fourth place, but André van Aarde who started in fifth and John Lee in sixth, overtook him and had to be happy with seventh place.
Promising mountain biker, Jooste Coetzee (12), was the youngest in the field of over 50 riders and finished 22nd overall. He is currently ranked number two in the country, and hopes to, after the nationals in Bloemfontein in two weeks’ time, be South Africa’s top rider in his age group.
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The next mountain biking event at Mankele is the Spur Mountain Bike Series late September.
