Bishopstowe XC Prov # 2

Well this weekend was the 2nd round of the KZN XC Provincial series, and man oh man was it super hot! We raced at Bishopstowe, just a few kilometers outside PMB. For once I was able to sleep in and pull myself out of bed a lot later than usual.

I arrived at the race at around 9 o'clock and managed to watch the elite womens race plan out in front of us. Eszter Cluer won elite women and young Candice Neethling came 2nd (even though being a junior). The racing was really quick,and due to the really short course the number of laps were increased. With my race only being at 12:30 I chilled as much as possible, and tried to get amped for the difficult race that lay ahead.

I would be racing up an age category in the u/23's and Elite men. What lay ahead was 9 laps of brutal punishment! Straight from the gun Rourke Croeser came to the front with myself in tow. We made our way down to the bottom of the course but soon found myself dropping back some positions. By the end of the first lap I found myself trailing in 6th but I just tried to remain focussed and keep a consistent pace. As we approached the 4th lap I started to real in the bunch of 4 riders just up the road. The gap was getting smaller, but very slightly every lap. A huge effort on the 6th lap saw me smashing into solid concrete barrier of pain on the 7th. To my surprise I still managed to close up to Andrew Warr. I managed to get a second wind half way through the 8th lap. As I went onto the last lap I dug deep and managed to bring the time gaps back down. I was pleased to hang onto a 5th overall and 2nd u/23. The course was extremely short, but still had a good variety of single track, descents, climbs and district roads. Ryan had an awesome race and wrapped up the Juniors race. So all in all we had an awesome weekend

Next weekend we're heading up to Sabie for the SA Marathon Championship! Hopefully we have a good one!







Thanks to Darren Goddard for the pictures


Until next time
B