‘Lost and found’ for MTB champ Hill
Not even a slight detour could derail the winner's charge to victory.
ANDREW Hill became the eighth solitary Sappi Scottburgh MTB Race titleholder when he raced to victory on KZN’s South Coast on Sunday while Candice Parker-Dennison’s successful women’s title defence saw her crowned just the second rider ever to claim multiple race wins.
After the event’s first ever staging was washed out in 2008, the subsequent eight editions have remarkably produced a new men’s winner each time. TIB Insurance’s Hill became the most recent to join the rare club after he overcame the most richly talented field in the history of the event.
Both the Hillcrest based rider and his three nearest rivals – Swiss Cycles’ Andrew Johnson, ROAG Racing’s Jedson Tooms and Kargo Pro Cycling Team’s Andrew Warr – were however made to work harder than expected after navigational errors by the initial lead quartet erased their early advantage.
“It’s nice to come down to this great South Coast race for the first time and get the win, especially as there was some serious talent that came to race this year,” said Hill.
“I knew the climbs were going to be where I could get a bit of an advantage today so I tried to make the pace quite hard on the ascents early on and thankfully my tactics paid off as I managed to get the King of the Mountains hot spot.
“Myself and a couple of the guys behind me then had a bit of a mix-up with markings and by the time we realised and turned around, we rejoined just behind the top five,” he said.
“We raced our way back through the field and once I got back in front, I just put my head down and looked to hammer it all the way through to the finish.”
Despite the unplanned disruption, Hill’s Sappi Scottburgh MTB Race debut was one he thoroughly enjoyed and the vastly experienced marathon competitor was highly impressed by the 45km course.
While Hill charged to victory, riders chopped and changed positions behind him with Hendrik Bester ultimately racing home to claim the runner-up award and RMB Change a Life MTB Academy’s Mboneni Ngcobo clinched a memorable third place.
Chainworx Cycles’ Darryn Purtell of Southbroom was eighth in 1:50:32.
With the event’s first ever multiple winner, Hayley Smith (Kargo Pro Cycling Team) not taking to this year’s start line as planned, 22 year-old Parker-Dennison was unchallenged in her title defence effort, a result she was well pleased with.
“I’m really stoked,” said the young Scottburgh local. “It’s always cool to ride, let alone defend my title, in my hometown.”
It was a South Coast dominated women’s podium as the hometown star was followed across the finish line by Umtentweni rider, Debrah Thomas who in turn narrowly edged out Shelly Beach’s Nataschka Mowat.
RESULTS
45km main race
Men – 1 Andrew Hill 1:43.53; 2 Hendrik Bester 1:46.16; 3 Mboneni Ngcobo 1:46.22; 4 Jedson Tooms 1:46.58; 5 Andrew Warr 1:48.26.
Women – 1 Candice Parker-Dennison 2:04.09; 2 Debrah Thomas 2:12.22; 3 Nataschka Mowat 2:12.37; 4 Riana Niehaus 2:15.09; 5 Caryn Harvey 2:20.52.
28km Dash & Splash
Men – 1 Chad Stevenson 1:29.18; 2 Richman Soboyisi 1:29.46; 3 Brad Soulsby 1:30.35.
Women – 1 Marina Thorne 2:02.14; 2 Zinnia Freitas 2:02.24.
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