mud, sweat and a whole lot more!

Well yesterday, I raced in the first Momentum Health KZN XC Provincial of 2009. It was really good to see that the XC Series had piked up a good sponsor for the season. Surprisingly there was a phenomenal amount of entries for the days racing.

The weather had been playing havoc with the course as it would be hot one minute and the next thing we knew the clouds were rolling in and rain began to pour from the sky making the course extremely muddy.

We arrived at the course fairly early on Sunday (06:00), as my mom had to help with registration. The overnight rain had really made the course a lot more different from the day before, but I still felt really confident for the race that lay ahead. The mud in the feed zone area was really bad, so my dad and I went to check out and claim the perfect spot before anyone else. With the new system of racing in your age group, I would be starting at 09:30 instead of 10:30 and would only be doing 4 laps, instead of 5...

On the start line I tried to keep a clear head and just remain focused on the gruelling race that lay ahead. The start was really fast and furious, and the pace was set by Michael Hughes on the first climb. I made a powerful surge about 1km into the race and managed to open up a 40 sec. gap on the first lap. I continued to push a hard on the second lap, this opened the gap to 3:30mins. I road really hard and continued stretching the gap each lap, and only managed to make a small mistake on lap 3, I ended up taking the win with just over 6 minutes ahead.

The course was really hard and took it's toll on all of the riders, the long 900m climb made for some good break aways. The single track was absolutely mind blowing. There was some very slick muddy section's which would've made for some entertaining falls (myself included). The course in general was really hard, but extremely well prepared. Well done to the organisers who made it all possible.

In the elite race Roan Exelby placed 1st with Rourke Croeser (a junior who rode in elite) place second, ahead of Andrew Warr.

Results: Youth Men:

1st Brendon Davids (Jeep S.A.) 01:31:19
2nd Luke Roberts (maverick) 01:37:59
3rd Michael Hughes(maverick) 01:47:28