The inaugural North Coast Challenger was a hit, drawing more than 400 participants, made up of both first timers and professional athletes.

Held at Holla Trails over three days, the multi-stage mountain biking and trail running event was the first of its kind locally, forming one of 10 meets in the Quattro ROAG Series.

Race director, Shaun Peschl, said it took less than three months from inception to race day to set up, and ran even better than he could have expected.

“I was a professional cyclist for 15 years and have been active in the mountain biking community ever since. It really felt like time for a multi-stage offering on the North Coast, where athletes normally have to look inland or to the Western Cape,” said Peschl.

The riders and the runners competed over three and two days respectively, with full and lite options available at varying distances and difficulty.

A fun run was also on offer for casual runners on Sunday.

In the full distance races, there were enthralling individual and team duels throughout, which saw athletes push each other to record excellent times.

It was a tale of leading from the get-go for both disciplines as entrants who took first place on day one largely finished on top come Sunday.

William Piat took gold in the full individual bike competition in a combined time of 5:19.43, almost two minutes ahead of second placed Joshua Metcalf.

‘The North Coast Boys’ duo won gold in their home race, with veteran Andrew Hill and promising youngster Brent Yelland combining to dominate the full duos field by over 18 minutes in a time of 5:03.37.

James Close (3:04.22) won the lite individual race by almost 24 minutes, while Evan Grant and Calan Goetsch (3:43.36) were equally impressive in the lite duos.

Mr. Consistency, Jacques Mare (2:42.45), claimed the honours in the full trail run, with Caleb Gould (1:25.06) just edging out Ewan McAllister (1:25.08) in the lite version.

The women’s trail run event saw some impressive performances.

In the full trail run category, Ingrid Koster clinched the top spot with an exceptional time of 2 hours, 56 minutes and 21 seconds.

Zoe Papadakis followed closely behind, securing second place with a time of 3 hours, 9 minutes and 20 seconds. Frances McCarthy completed the top three, finishing the race in 3 hours, 16 minutes and 12 seconds.

The lite trails category also witnessed some fantastic performances. Fiona Sutton emerged victorious with a time of 1 hour, 37 minutes and 56 seconds, closely followed by Mandy Waller who finished in 1 hour, 39 minutes and 36 seconds. Channel Basson came in third with a time of 1 hour, 40 minutes and 2 seconds.

In the full mountain bike race, Tracey Quin put up an incredible performance, finishing the race in 7 hours, 27 minutes and 30 seconds. Ilsa Van Niekerk finished second with a time of 7 hours, 58 minutes and 19 seconds.

The Lite cycling race also saw some thrilling action, with Kylie Harborth dominating the race and finishing with an impressive time of 3 hours, 28 minutes and 9 seconds. Sophie Bircher followed in second place with a time of 3 hours, 47 minutes and 2 seconds, while Paula Dollman finished third with a time of 4 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds.

The next race will be a single stage one in November and Peschl is confident that the North Coast Challenger will return next year.

Visit northcoastchallenger.co.za for more information.

Follow The North Coast Courier on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube for breaking news

Telegram Broadcast Service: https://t.me/joinchat/yJULuN8NaCs5OGM0