Local lad wins 947 MTB Challenge
Wessel Botha was delighted to continue his good form by defending his title at the 55 kilometre 947 Mountain Bike Challenge in Johannesburg yesterday.
Botha, 19, last week claimed the Wines2Whales Shiraz title alongside his NAD Pro teammate Matt Beers.
He is developing into one of South Africa’s most promising talents and backed that up by winning the 947 event today, beating Jan Withaar into second with Pieter du Toit third, a repeat of last year’s result.
“I’m so happy to have defended my title,” Botha said. “It was a hard race and I knew it was going to come down to the last few hills towards the end.
“I just tried to keep the pace high to tire the guys out a bit. I attacked flat out on the Steyn City climb, got a small gap and then went full gas from there on until the end,” he said, adding that before the race he had predicted the winning time would be 1:57:00. He managed to finish in 1:56:43 today.
Botha said a group of 10 riders remained at the head of affairs until the final climb, where he broke away.
“Jan just stuck on my wheel, but I managed to get the jump on him towards the top of the climb and I think he blew a bit.”
He added that for him it was challenging to stay calm and not burn too many matches from the outset of the race.
“I used pretty much the same tactics as last year, putting some more pressure on the guys in the single-track [sections]. It was a bit harder to get away than last year, but I still managed to do it.”
