Tour de Bank a great turn out
Curro Bankenveld in Mpumalanga hosted the fifth event in the National Spur Schools Mountain Biking Series.
On Saturday, June 20 it was a lovely day and the cyclists were ready for the action.
Part of the aim of the League is to encourage more young people to get fit and spend time outdoors and 180 young cyclists arrived with their families and friends to enjoy a perfect winter day under clear blue skies.
By 10:00 the six to seven year old Sub-Nippers piled into the start chute, and Danel de Jager from Volksrust was almost as fast as the boys over the first lap. Curro Nelspruit claimed victory in the boy’s race, with Milan Snyman and Bjorn Louw charging along separated by Le Roux van der Leek from Uplands.
Most of the Primary School riders were Sub-Nippers and 29 boys competed in this eight to 10 year old category. Nelspruit and Lydenburg dominated the girl’s race, although Mikaela Goelst from Penryn claimed victory. The top boys raced like professionals, logging their fastest times on the third and final lap, with Luan Snyman finishing ahead of John Lloyd and Francois de Jager. Not just the skill of these young Lowveld riders, but also their perfect bike setups and proper cycling kit was quite a revelation for the local riders and parents.
The 11 to 12 year old Sprogs were the first group to venture over the longer route. Some route markers proved to be a problem, but Christo Theron from Bergland in Nelspruit and Franco Kritzinger from Malelane Laerskool showed fine sporting spirit as they eventually congratulated Joshua Clarke from Penryn College on his victory. Ainsli de Beer made sure Penryn also claimed the girl’s race.
A total of 31 learners raced in the Sub-Junior 13 to 14 year old category, where Abigail Alexander from Uplands dominated the girl’s race and Jean van der Merwe from Lydenburg was the winner of the boy’s race.
Bigger gaps started to appear between the top performers and less experienced riders as laps were added to the route for the older riders. Although recent fire breaks made the jeep tracks as smooth as secondary roads, and there are no big climbs in the area, rocks and gravel on the uphill drags now proved quite challenging.
Marnique de Swardt from Secunda High School not only beat the fastest woman in the next category, but finished more than eight minutes ahead of Kirsty Shuttleworth, who was almost as far ahead of Monique Swart in the 15 to 16 year old Youth girl’s category. Now the race pace of the top Youth boys put Ryan Terry, Constant Furstenberg and Donald Hlase in sight of the next three chasers, but more than half of the remaining 37 participants in this category were lapped by the leaders!
Jeandre Gautier from Hoër Tegniese Skool managed to come in fourth place.
Although only three young women rode the Junior Women’s race, but the 17 to 18 year old Youth men’s race was so exciting that even spectators who were starting to feel quite tired after a long day were on their feet to cheer. Andreas Kuhn from Uplands College eventually claimed victory ahead of Martin Oosthuizen and Hyno Kruger.
It really was inspirational to see such accomplished cyclists from the rest of Mpumalanga in action. While the local schools and riders did not get very close to the podium and clearly have plenty of hard work to do, most of them now seem determined to become more fit and skilled.
See all the photos here.
For free breaking and community news, visit Witbank News’s website:
Witbank News
For more news and interesting articles, like Witbank News on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
We offer a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send a message to our WhatsApp with your ‘Name and Surname’ to 082 955 7201 or add us on BBM 7F6C600F to receive your free daily news updates.
