Know and Saunders overpower the Ashburton field
Knox, the current South African champion, was involved in almost a race-long battle with a field that stayed fairly tightly knit until almost three quarters of the way through the 103km race.
Max Knox and Samantha Sanders were the respective winners of the men and women’s elite titles at Round 5 of the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series, held at Sugar Rush, Ballito at the weekend. But their wins were in stark contrast, with Knox winning a tight tussle and Sanders cruising to a comfortable victory.
Knox, the current South African champion, was involved in almost a race-long battle with a field that stayed fairly tightly knit until almost three quarters of the way through the 103km race.
Philip Buys was an early agitator, riding off the front to claim the King of the Mountain prize at 30km. But he was reeled back in and for most of the race a lead pack of around 15 riders who broke up and reformed a few times along the hilly route.
Gert Heyns and Knox made a decisive move after a singletrack section before the second Tech Zone at 75km. They worked together and increased their lead over the pack, which was starting to lose cohesion as riders began to tire. With 10km remaining, Knox kept the pressure high and the pace proved too much for Heyns.
Knox went on to claim the victory in a time of three hours 45 minutes 28 seconds. In the final run up to the finish, Heyns was caught by Nico Bell, who had chased back hard after suffering a mechanical. The pair sprinted for the second place with Heyns just pipping Bell in what required a photo to decide the positions. The pair clocked 3:46:48.
“The shorter route really delivered more explosive racing. I really gave it my all trying to stay with Max but I blew and Nico, who always finishes strong, caught me and we had to sprint for second place,” said Heyns.
In the women’s race, Sanders took an early lead which she managed to increase throughout the 75km course to clock a winning time of 3:26:24. Jeannie Dreyer finished a distant second almost nine minutes later, with Therese Ralph rounding out the top three in 3:38:21.
“I was a bit concerned coming in to this race after a sick week. I went out hard very early so I could determine the pace. It was risky, but with the short, sharp climbs it suited me. I’m finally finding some marathon form after getting out of XC racing a bit,” said a satisfied Sanders.
Runner-up Dreyer said it was a jolly tough course.
“It felt like one big climb out there today, but I love these hard, shortish 70km races and we had some really great weather,” said Dreyer.
The Ashburton Investments National MTB Series now moves to Mpumalanga province for Round 6, on 3 and 4 September.
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