Hundreds of mountain bikers flock to Barberton for legendary XCM MTB Challenge
This race is a staple of the South African MTB calendar.
Celebrating 28 years this year, the Mopani Barberton XCM MTB Challenge was held on January 25 with great success.
A long-time favourite of the mountain-biking community, the Barberton XCM features five distinct race categories, ranging from the ‘gentle’ 20km fun ride to the ‘challenging’ 110km ultramarathon. The race is one of the oldest of its kind in the country, and the highlight of the event is undoubtedly the 110km ultramarathon, in which the riders climb more than 3 000m over the course of it.
Professional riders from all over South Africa love to flock to Barberton to compete in the ultramarathon as they revel in the challenge the race poses.
It was founded in 1997 by Ben Theron and was organised by the Barberton Rotary Club for the first 27 years of the race’s existence.
There was a change this year, however, as the Round Table Barberton 67 took over the reins and organised the race for the first time. The Round Table had an excellent start as this year’s event was a great success, with music acts such as the Moonshine Band and DJ Rademeyer performing in the race village.
The weather was perfect and the turnout incredible as more than 300 people took part in the Barberton XCM across the various race categories. No fewer than 77 riders took on and completed the ultramarathon.
This year’s overall winner was Jordan Boshoff, who completed the race in four hours, 31 minutes and 45 seconds. Gawie Combrinck (04:44:26) was second and Nico Bell (04:51:48) third. The ladies’ winner was Samantha Sanders, finishing in 05:16:38. Second was Lesanne van der Vyver (06:27:21) and third was Tanja Schutte (06:38:30).
In the 75km full marathon, Eben Swart won in a time of 03:26:02, Christian Smit (03:31:36) was second and Willie van Eck (03:35:06) third. Megan Boshoff (04:06:55) was the first woman, followed by Parys Edwards (04:07:00) and Elsa de Beer (04:55:14).
Dalmyn Pretorius (02:14:06) won the 50km half-marathon. Kian Nel (02:23:06) was second and Scholtz Boshoff (02:34:08) third. Maya de Vries was the ladies’ winner in a time of 02:59:04. Inge Visser (03:10:04) was second with Felicity Whiteley (03:13:11) third.
