A riding star in the making

The sport has gained significant momentum in recent years and Zandri is a good example of this, achieving extraordinary things at the age of 15.

Hoërskool Rob Ferreira’s athlete is passionate about mountain biking and was first introduced to the sport by her friends.

She recalls how she has always enjoyed riding her bicycle on her family’s farm and says her first cycling encounter was in 2015 when her friends introduced her to the cross-county circuit and she fell in love with the sport.

Zandri’s achievements to date are no mean feat. Last year in the Spur Schools MTB Inter-schools finals, her team achieved top honours in the youth women category, and broke the record for clocking in with the best time.

With a rigorous training regime of five to six days a week, it’s no surprise that Zandri is one of the most technically skilled young female MTB riders in the country. She can wheelie up a lamp post, go round it by holding onto it, hop on her back wheel and she does it all really fast.

But when it comes to MTB, Zandri says it’s no good just being an aerobic athlete.

“Riders need the right skills to compete and the courses are technical too.”

While she admits that it’s easy to complete the distance, riders need to have the route’s pace to navigate the course’s terrain.

This season, she hopes to win the South African cup series, the National XCO champs, and to win the Spur Schools MTB League.

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When asked what it takes to be a great mountain biker, she said, “Hard work, determination, support from friends and family and most importantly, always keep it fun”.

Last year she claimed the 2016 UCI SA XCO Mountain Bike series title.