Challenging new course makes for good racing

Stanford Lake College (SLC) recently hosted the second round of the 2018 Limpopo Open XCO series, the Nashua XCO. The event reportedly had a new start and finish venue, allowing for a better race setup and a more spectator friendly race while the fast finish area made for some spectacular racing.
The programme comprised a primary schools’ track, a short course and a long course. The primary schools’ track, a 2 km loop, presented participants with a demanding down ride followed by a demanding hard climb out of the valley. The short course for sub-junior boys and girls, veteran women and the master men and women was a 4 km loop interesting features and fast single track sections. The long course over 4,5 km included some technical single-track with selected demanding features like drop-offs and rock-gardens for entrants in the youth boys and girls, junior men and women, elite men and women, sub-vet men and women and the vet men categories.
Tiaan Fullard, educator responsible for Outdoor Education and Social Science at SLC, indicated that the level of racing varied “with some intense racing for the top spots, some battling just to keep pedalling and some riders just enjoying every moment.”
The race drew 146 entries with the elite men’s winner being Marno van Zyl in a time of 1:05:44.1. No entries were received in the elite women category. SLC riders who claimed podium positions are Ani Gutierrez who won the junior girls category in a time of 1: 02:02.7 with Lara Dando (1:5:42.3) placing third, Matt Wilkinson who attained a spectacular second place (1:11:55.6) in the elite men and Danica Altenroxel (56:45.2) who finished third in the youth women.