Lydenburg triumphs at Spur Schools mountain bike regional finals

Mankele Mountain Bike Park  set the scene for the exciting Spur Schools Mountain Bike Series regional finals. The park was awash with the colours of the 60 schools represented by about 400 riders.

A complement of riders who performed well at the regional finals will represent Mpumalanga at the interprovincial meet, to be held at Die Hoërskool Wagpos in Brits next weekend.

The league’s main aim is to pave the way for more learners to start mountain biking and get schools to accept the sport officially.
To this end, it has introduced a robust cross-country setup which includes four events in each province between May and September. There is no limit to the number of riders who can enter, so the more riders representing each school, the more points are added to the riders’ finishing positions.

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When the riders in the different categories took on the challenging Mankele course, it soon became apparent which schools had the stronger strategy, based on the the outcomes of the races.

This year, there were seven races in total, with three held in the Highveld and the remaining four in the Lowveld. The races held at Mankele were the culmination of schools striving to collect the maximum points to be eligible for the R10 000 prize money awarded to the school with the most points.

There were a few spills and flat tyres in each category, with a number of notable performances in the sub-junior boys and girls, youth men and women and the junior men’s and women’s races.

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The weather fluctuated from overcast to downright windy and the dust added to an already difficult course, but the riders in each category, from the sub-nipper, nippers, sprogs and juniors up to the more senior riders, pedalled with all their might to rack up the points for their schools.

In the junior girls’ race, Zandri Strydom powered her way to the finish line after an impressive race, during which she followed women’s youth winner, Bernice van Wyk from Hoërskool Lydenburg closely. The Hoërskool Rob Ferreira rider finally outpaced Bernice and crossed the finish line first, despite the two competing in different categories.

Zandri completed the three-lap course in an impressive 00:33:41, while Bernice finished in a time of 00:34:00 – four minutes ahead of Geane Engelbrecht from Hoërskool Secunda, who came in second place in the youth women’s race.

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In the sprogs men’s race, LeRoux van der Leek from Uplands Preparatory School powered his way across the finish line after setting a blistering pace and coming in at 00:21:38, followed by Carl Maré from Bergland Primary School at 00:22:27.

In the girls’ sprogs, Danel de Jager, from Pionier Primary School, set a 30-second distance between herself and second-placed Megan Botha from Laerskool Nelspruit, with a time of 00:23:33.

Once the more junior races were completed, the big guns took to the course with a strong showing from Mbombela. Mikaela Goelst from Curro, Nelspruit and Luan Snyman from Hoërskool Nelspruit triumphed in this category.

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Ruhan Dreyer from Lydenburg added another win for the team after pipping everyone to the post and claiming victory in the youth men’s division. The strong performance from Lydenburg ensured they remained on top after the points were tallied.