Perfect day for family, mountain-biking, family & Lifestyle
Category General News
An overwhelming turnout of nearly eight hundred participants arrived to enjoy this, the second event to be held at this beautiful estate in the Bisley Nature Reserve just outside Pietermaritzburg. Team Jeep athletes dominated the podium in the 40km Mountain Bike Classic which was won by the recently crowned All African U23 MTB Champion, Brendon Davids in a super-fast time of one hour, thirty minutes and twenty-four seconds. Team mate Travis Walker claimed second place (1h32.55) with Youth rider Julian Jessop (Team Jeep) taking an impressive third place overall (1h39.11). Davids commented after the race “A fast course on rolling terrain made for ideal training for cross-country racing. It was great to see so much game out there; we raced pasted giraffe, zebra and plenty of buck. Being so close to town, I will definitely be making more use of the trails out here at Intaba Ridge for my weekly training sessions.”
Multisport Queen Jeannie Dreyer (nee Bomford) held off a strong challenge from Roag Series champion and top veteran racer Natalie Bergstrom (CoffeeBerry Café) to take the win in one hour, forty-nine minutes and 46 seconds. Bergstrom was second (1h50.53) with US rider Kendall Ryan (Team Jeep) claiming third place.
The race enjoyed the support of Martin Dreyer and his Change A Life squad. John Ntuli, an SA Duathlete, finished an impressive seventh place overall while Dreyer took a worthy win in the veteran category. Frederick Rossouw (CoffeeBerry Café) was first sub-veteran home with team owner Con Malherbe taking the win in the masters category.
Junior Axel Collyer raced hard for his win in the 20km MTB race, crossing the line in fifty-six minutes and 42 seconds. Sprog rider Travis Stedman rode a cracking race to place second overall (58:04) while an equally impressive ride from the first girl home, Tiffany Keep (58:21) who won the sub-junior girls category. Great racing from the girls saw sub-junior Courtney Smith placing second overall (1h03.21) and sprog Sabine Thies third overall (1h05.09).
In the 10km fun ride, Dustin Starr took the win in a fast eighteen minutes while second place went to the first girl home, Kelly Tam in twenty-one minutes and 9 seconds.
The 5km and 10km Trail Runs were well supported with several athletes going on to do the mountain biking events which started later. One of whom was the winner of the 10km trail run, Andre Booyens, who then raced the 40km mountain bike race on a single speed ! Booyen’s time of 41min:49 sec was just over a minute clear of second placed Glen Morgan (43:00) with Devon van der Merwe third (45:39). Roxanne Dovey won the women’s 10km (41:49). James Murray (25:52) and Abbey-Lynn Haswell (30:49) were the respective winners of the 5km trail run.
The event enjoyed the support of title sponsor Nedbank. Anton Davies, General Manager Product and Marketing at Nedgroup Life commented. “We see great value in supporting the Nedbank Intaba Ridge Classic as it resonates with our values of wellness and engaging in a healthy lifestyle. We want to share this journey with others and in so doing push those boundaries.”
Author: Max Cluer Sports Marketing