XTERRA KNYSNA

RESULT: 5th Overall

My build up to XTERRA Knysna was far from what I had planned due to injuries but I was still looking forward to testing myself against a fully stacked world class field.

I was very pleased the race had a mid day start as the weather had been extremely cold and wet in the days leading up to the race, but we were greeted by perfect weather on race day, although the course would still be extremely muddy.

It was very intimidating lining up at the start next to the likes of Conrad Stoltz, Dan Hugo, Kevin Evans, Lieuwe Boonstra, Raoul De Jongh, Daniel Carleton and Gareth Harrington to name just a few of the top athletes.

The 1st run consisted of a 3km loop with one very big climb and a very steep fast descent. My aim was to set a comfortable tempo ensuring I still had legs going onto the bike, which would be my stronger leg. Even with this in mind I covered the 1st km in 3min and could see Lieuwe and Conrad pulling away. After reaching the top of the climb Raoul had come past setting a great pace and had caught Dan up ahead.

I had a good transition and came out a few meters behind Dan. I quickly realized he wasn’t his normal self and made my move to chase after the guys ahead. Soon after Kevin came past me. I tried briefly to get on his wheel but there was no way I could climb at the speed he was maintaining. I was now lying 4th and kept my head down hoping to catch Lieuwe. About 4km from the finish I managed to bridge the gap and came into transition with a slight lead over him.

The 2nd run was a distance of 7.5km and I quickly felt my lack of preparation as the run went immediately up a very large climb. My legs weren’t responding and Lieuwe came back past dropping me to 4th. I tried hard to find a rhythm once we reached the top but it wasn’t happening. I was now into damage limitation mode trying hard to hold onto my position. But unfortunately with about 2km of the run left Raoul caught me and attacked hard dropping me down to 5th. I was very disappointed crossing the line in 5th just ahead of Dan. Looking at the positives I did have a good bike leg and I know I have a lot of room for improvement on my run.

It was a great few days away in Knysna and also really nice to catch up with everyone at the event. I left the venue with renewed energy and know I can produce better results in the future.

Thanks again to THULE South Africa for believing in me this year and allowing me to chase my dreams.

Bikes on the Thule rack and ready to head down to the start