This past Sunday saw the OneMovement Scool XCE series kick off for Kwa-Zulu Natal, as riders headed to a cold and wet Kearsney College. Thankfully the rain stopped about an hour before the event started though. Riders were treated to a great 900m course with a 50/50 percentage mix of terrain: a long tar straight to jostle for positioning leading into the single track, this was no cruise however as it was very rocky with a few technical drop offs, just when riders thought they were nearing the finish they were faced with a short but sharp climb up to the tar road for the last finish sprint.
Unfortunately due to the clash of dates with Karkloof the field was small and only able to host enough entrants for the u/14 and u/16 boys divisions. With that being said, it was great to see a lot of “first time” entrants to competitive cycling with a number of riders still riding in takkies. What was also great to see was the enthusiasm and support not only from the parents but also the teachers that head up the mountain biking programs from the various schools. The camaraderie and sportsmanship amongst the riders and different schools was also fantastic, shows a lot of positives for the sport from the up and coming talent.
In contrast to the weather temperature, the racing was hot with plenty of elbow to elbow hustling to take top honours. Tactics very quickly took over and many a parent and coach giving a team talk as to what gear to start in and which line to take up the climb. There were a few spills through the rocky single track but only smiles at the end of the day. The four finalist in each division were showered in awesome prizes from our sponsors with over R20 000 in products and cash. The sponsors went all out with helmets, cycling kit, clothing, bike shop vouchers, headphones, bags and compression kit, even the parents wanted to get in on the action when we did the raffle draw!
Thanks to the sponsors: Catlike Helmets, World of Heroes, Enjoy Fitness, Skullcandy, Fox Racing, OGIO, Rockets Compression and the local bike shop supporting this event, Velo Life.
Podiums for KZN XCE Round 1:
u/14 Boys
- Josh Rheeders – Kearsney
- Ethan Biggar – Northwood
- Luke Daniel – Curro H.C.A
u/16 Boys
- Cayde Muldoon – Northwood
- Ben Carnie – Northwood
- Juandre De Beer – Kearsney
Schools Standings
- Northwood – 4278
- Glenwood – 3945
- Kearsney – 2539
Sunday 18 May sees round 2 taking place at Crawford College in La Lucia, again a great mix of terrain with some awesome downhill single track but a heart rate exploding climb to get to it. You can find out more and enter online by going to www.onemovement.co.za.
