‘Nelson Mandela would have smiled,’ – Candice Lill
It was a great way to prepare for the forthcoming world champs.
CANDICE Lill (née Neethling) and Matthys Beukes claimed the honours and the glory at the Mandela Day Marathon MTB Dash on Saturday, but they achieved their respective wins at the Mandela Capture Site in vastly different ways.
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Team PYGA Euro Steels’ Beukes, who struggled in the early stages to shake off his ‘heavy legs’ after travelling for two days to get to Lion’s River in the KZN Midlands, had to battle Stuart Marais for almost the entire race before securing victory with a surge within two kilometres of the finish.
In contrast Lill, formerly from Oribi, was able to ride off into the distance and was never headed with the experienced Jeannie Dreyer finally claiming second from young matric schoolgirl Tiffany Keep.
“It is so cool to see all the different sports – mountain biking, trail running, road running and triathlon – all coming together out here this weekend. I know Nelson Mandela would have smiled if he has seen all of this out here today.”
Lill, who was using the Mandela Day Dash as preparation for the Cross Country World Championships in early September, said she was very happy with her form.
“Of course I am happy with the win. I leave for the World Champs in Switzerland in a week or so and so I wanted to have a nice fast race to get the speed in my legs…and to race with the men is also an added bonus to make me push myself a bit more,” she said.
She had a lot of fun during the race. “The route is pretty hard…very up-down, up-down so it was very punchy, but then at the end you have done all the hard work and can enjoy the single track before the little climbs up to the finish,” she said.
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