Ballito cyclists Tyronne White and Madison Bateson powered their way to victory in the 40km off-road category at Saturday’s Aquelle Durban MTB Tour on Saturday.

The 40km race, which started and finished near Cornubia Mall, was dominated by White (01:20.39) and the Ballito DriveTrain Academy team he coaches, claiming a clean-sweep of the top four positions.

Joshua Paul (01:22.56) finished second just over two minutes behind White, with pre-race favourite and defending champion Daniel van der Watt crossing the line in third place in 01:25.20, followed by Luke Pretorius in fourth (01:30.40).

White was modest about his achievement, instead enthusing over the success of his protégées.

“The young riders did amazing work. It means so much to them to be recognised,” he said. “It is a different kind of race because you are hard on the pedals the whole way.”

But the shock of the day was 14-year-old Bateson outgunning experienced defending champion Joanna van de Winkel by four minutes in the women’s race.

The DriveTrain racer took on the 40km distance for the first time after winning the 20km category last year.

She said the most challenging part of the race was keeping up with the extremely high pace.

“I had no expectations of the outcome, only to do my best and enjoy it,” she said.

Van de Winkel lead the race until she missed a turn marker and was not able to regain the lead from the flying Bateson who grasped the opportunity to edge ahead and keep pole position, clocking 01:36.48.

Funds raised in the the Aquelle Durban Tour, on its 23-year run, go to the Domino Foundation, a Durban-based non-profit organisation working in KwaZulu-Natal’s largest informal settlement, Amaoti.

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