Mpumalanga pedalled with pride and determination to claim fourth place at the 2025 Cycle Lab MTB Provincial Finals at Hoërskool Piet Retief on Sunday, October 5.

Eleven provincial teams competed. Gauteng claimed first place with 1 940 points, the Western Cape second with 1 766, KwaZulu-Natal third with 1 740 and Mpumalanga fourth with 1 335. Riders from Lowveld schools raced to individual honours.

Maya de Vries of Curro Nelspruit won gold in the youth 15 female race.

Racing proudly in the colours of Mpumalanga, Maya finished first in 34:50.70 – 19 seconds ahead of Lara van den Vyver of the Western Cape – to be crowned South African champ.

Megan Botha of Hoërskool Nelspruit raced to third place in the junior 18/19 category in 35:46.40. Her provincial teammate and fellow Nellie, Mikyla Herbst, took eighth place in the same category in 39:21.20.

In the junior 17 female category, Jana Kotze of Hoërskool Nelspruit finished seventh in 52:45.00.

Dalmyn Pretorius, also of Hoërskool Nelspruit, finished 10th in the junior 18/19 male race in 28:57.30.

The 2025 Cycle Lab MTB Schools Finals were held at the same venue on Saturday, October 4. In the boys’ competition, Hoërskool Nelspruit finished 19th with 285 points and Hoërskool Lydenburg 40th with 164.

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Nellies scored 395 points to claim fourth place in the girls’ category, while Lydies took 39th place with 135 points.

In the total combined interschools competition, Nelspruit’s 530 points earned them the title of fifth best MTB school in South Africa, behind Waterkloof, Menlopark, Randburg and Midstream.

Lydenburg finished 27th overall. Maya (36:24.20) claimed first place in the national interschools competition.

Megan finished third (50:44.50), Dalmyn (59:08.80) and Jana (52:56) seventh, and Mikyla eighth (56:26.10).

Jemma Barnard of Hoërskool Nelspruit raced to seventh place in the youth 16 category in 53:24.00.