VARSITY COLLEGE MULTI-SPORT SERIES EVENT #1

Result: 1st Overall

What felt like a pure summers storm swept through Ballito on Saturday night and absolutely drenched Holla Trails. And yet we were greeted by spectacular weather on Sunday morning. These are actually my favourite conditions, warm and sunny yet extremely slippery and muddy. It was set to be a fun days racing.

Felt great to roll out of bed and drive about 2kms to the start on Sunday morning. Not often us Ballito folk get races on our doorstep so was a nice change. There was such a cool vibe at the race venue with all the Varsity College students getting involved.

It was a very fast start to the first run with Gareth taking off out the holla gates. It soon became a bit of a comedy fest when we hit the first descent and realised there was absolutely zero traction, this led to some quite funny shouting and arm waving as we all tried to stay upright. Soon after that Derrin and John managed to get away and that left myself, Dan and Gareth chasing. We came into transition 50 seconds down on the leaders.

After a hard early effort on the bike I got onto the wheel of Derrin and John and chose not to attack until we reached the only single track section on the route. I managed to get a gap on Derrin after some serious dodging of the back markers of the MTB races which had started just before us. I kept a good solid pace the rest of the bike and got off with a comfortable lead.

This allowed me to take no risks on the treacherous final run route as I managed to bring it home for the win, ahead of Derrin in 2nd and John in 3rd. Was great to get a win on home ground and with so many locals at the event. It was as always a very well run event and good to see Varsity College getting so involved in our sport. Also very stoked that my personal sponsors Powasol were on hand to get the bikes looking like new again after such a muddy ride.

Photo Credit: QuickPix

 

MOMENTUM HEALTH IFLEX DUATHLON EVENT #4

Result: 2nd Overall

Weather predictions for Sundays Momentum Health IFlex Duathlon were not looking good with rain and gale force winds on the forecast however we woke to a chilly yet still and clear day. It was set to be a brilliant day for racing.



 I was very unsure of how my body would perform after my injuries I sustained before Sani2C and only having just over a week of training in the legs before this event, however I couldn’t bare to miss a hometown national event. All I could do was give my best and see where that got me.



 It felt good to be back on the start line and after the gun went to start the first run leg I tried to settle into a comfortable pace not over pushing myself. I could see Brand Du Plesis disappearing into the distance and following close behind were JP Ten Napel, Derrin Smith and John Ntuli. I tried to stay calm and save energy for the bike.



 I exited transition onto the bike leg with lots of work to do. I planned to go out hard on the first lap and see where that got me and then hopefully hold on for the tough second lap. I managed to catch John and Derrin up the first climb and worked hard through the second single track section to get a gap. There was now just JP and Brand ahead. Finally about three quarters of the way through lap one I caught JP and quickly tried to put daylight between us, knowing he would have a strong final run. After lap one I had only made up a small amount of time on Brand as he was having a storming race. I could feel my legs were a little weary and chose to back off the second lap rather then risk blowing up spectacularly.



 Onto the final run I was sitting comfortably in second place, Brand was gone up ahead and I had a very comfortable cushion over JP behind me third which allowed me to bring it home in the final run without to much pressure.



 I was very happy with my second place after the injuries and lack of training. Obviously I would have liked to retain my win from last year but it just wasn’t possible. It was nevertheless a brilliant day of racing close to home with a good testing course with some hard climbs. Looking forward to building from this race towards the Imana Wild Ride