Mud and rain test young cyclists

Date: 17 April 2014 By: Andries van Zyl

A total of 47 young mountain bikers from six schools across the Limpopo Province braved the misty, wet and extremely muddy Soutpansberg on Saturday to compete in the first round of the Limpopo School Cycling challenge.

The Limpopo series for 2014 is presented by Debtsafe Pty (Ltd). Schools Cycling South Africa is growing very big, very fast, with more than 250 high schools taking part, leading up to the national Spur Schools Series Final to be held at Bekker Schools near Magaliesburg. The racing is open to all schools and points are given to schools according to the results from each race. The racing is in the cross-country (XCO) mountain bike format on a course of approximately 5km per lap. Riders ride to the number of laps per age group; the older the rider, the more laps in the allotted time.

In Limpopo, 12 high schools have already entered for the challenge, although only six could make it on Saturday. They were Louis Trichardt High School (LTT), Stanford Lake College, Ridgeway College, Frans du Toit, Pietersburg Hoërskool and the Hanglip Akademie.

All the riders had a tough time negotiating the slippery track, with many riders getting to know Mother Earth a bit better after taking a fall or two. “I think the Brown School won,” one mother remarked as it was at times impossible to see from which school the cyclists were as they were all covered, top to bottom and bikes as well, in mud.

In the sub-junior race, top honours in the girls category went to Reese Bain from Stanford, with Louis Trichardt’s Zian van den Heever setting the best lap time in the boys' race. The second boy home was Casper-John Venter from Ridgeway, followed by Heine de Jager (LTT) in third place.

Another young lady from Stanford, Anke Vaughn, took first place in the 15-year-old youth category for girls. School mate Kirsten Eastes was second and Sune Reyneke from Frans du Toit third. This category for boys was won by Devan Thompson from Frans du Toit, with Luke Burns and Matthew Wilkinson (both from Stanford) second and third respectively.

In the girls' section of the 16-year-old category, Stanford once again came up tops, with Sarah Pogrund finishing first and Charne Labuschagne (LTT) in second place. Edwin Simpson (Frans du Toit) clinched this category for the boys, with Stanford’s Lachlan Truesdale and Aiden du Preez second and third respectively.

In the fiercely contested junior women's and men's category, Stanford boasted another first place in the women’s category, with Abigail Joubert taking top honours while Bianca Oberholzer (LTT) was second. In the men’s category, upcoming young cycling sensation Kombo Bere (LTT) racked up another win. Another local cycling sensation, Marco Roets (Hanglip) was second, with third place going to Christo Hanekom (Pietersburg).

Stanford’s strong showing puts them on top of the log after the first race, with 143 points. Louis Trichardt is second with 125 points and Frans du Toit  third with 64. Ridgeway have 17 points and Hanglip 12. The next round of the series will be on 17 May at Stanford.

For more information, phone Johan van Dijkhorst at 082 740 8740.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

More photos... 

Marco Roets from the Hanglip Akademie was second in the fiercely contested junior men's category. Photo: Kos Coronaios.