It was a swansong to remember for Danielle Strydom and Pieter du Toit, the two captains of the North West Spur Schools’ MTB team at Hoërskool Bekker during the Spur MTB League inter-schools’ final from 7 to 8 October.

In their final race for their province at school level, Strydom (Gimmies) and Du Toit (Volkies), who are dating, took first place in their green North West jerseys to cap off years of MTB success with dominating wins. This was also Du Toit’s fourth win out of five attempts at the national final.
It was not enough for North West to claim a third consecutive provincial victory, though, as they ended up 30 points behind the 2017 winners, Gauteng, in third place. Western Cape took the second spot.

A total of 433 riders competed in the event that saw schools (Saturday) and provinces (Sunday) battle it out to see who would claim the top prize in the sport. Potchefstroom Gimnasium once again showed their class by taking first place overall in the girls’ category as Strydom’s first place and Joné van Eeden’s second place contributed to them retaining the title they won in 2016. Gimmies also claimed third place in the mixed category.

‘I’m so happy to have ended it off on such a high note winning both the provincial and inter-schools’ races. There are so many thanks to give everyone who has supported me through the years but I would mostly like to thank my parents; family; boyfriend, Pieter du Toit; my coach, Leon Prinsloo and Spur MTB League for making it an unforgettable ride,’ stated Strydom on social media after her victory.
‘All credit goes to the kids who have trained so hard and sacrificed so much time, including a large portion of their weekends to ensure they do well. We are proud of each one of them and can’t wait to start planning for the 2018 season,’ added Meurant Botha, the director of Amarider and principal organiser of the Spur School MTB League.