What a fantastic day we had on Saturday, writes Diana Carolin. Perfect weather conditions and a great turnout at the Coetzenburg XCO track in Stellies. Thanks so much to Novus Holdings, Paarl Media, Subaru, Giant, Cadence Nutrition and all the other sponsors that made this event possible.
It was the best XCO event that I have attended so far and by far the best venue and course.
Corrie did a fantastic job on the course and while it was challenging enough to make you hurt, it wasn’t too technical. There were some super sections with berms and jumps and drop offs as well as a section of steps to navigate before you had to cross a very narrow bridge. The gutter was the biggest challenge for me. It was super steep and pretty slippery from sand and a bit of rain. In practice I had made it up with a few grunts but when it came to race day and the pressure was on I found myself running up at least half of it each lap.
I was racing in the Vet ladies category and found myself surrounded by top riders with many accolades to their names. It was a good race from start to finish and the pressure was on the whole way. The ladies all raced together and in the Elites Bianca Haw took the win with Candice Neethling 2nd. In the Sub Vets Fienie Barnard took the win and in the Vets it was Thandi Kitching, myself and Michelle Lombardi third. The Junior ladies was won by Alison Morton, and she’s definitely a very talented young rider.
The men’s Sub Vets race was won by Nic Lamond, with Neil Ungerer in second. Then the main event of the day was the Elite Men’s race and it was a game of cat and mouse between Stephan Sahm and Konnie Looser, it was very entertaining to watch. Konnie took the win in the last lap and the very talented Dylan Rebello followed Stephan in for a very well deserved third place.
XCO is becoming far better supported in the Western Cape thanks to the hard work of a few dedicated people and some very generous sponsors. I did my first race at WP Champs last year and I have to say that having now done a full season I cannot understand why more people don’t take part. The WP XCO community are such wonderful welcoming and encouraging people. It is a real family event at the kid’s levels and even at the higher levels there is good natured racing and camaraderie. Yes it is tough to go out there and bleed for 1 hour and 30 minutes but it’s worth it! It is such a great sense of achievement to have made it around those laps having turned yourself inside out and feeling like each time you have ridden the lines better and maybe shaved off a few seconds a lap. Ask anyone who races XCO and they will tell you that it’s tough but it’s also a helluva lot of fun.
I hope to see some new faces next year especially in the ladies categories. You only improve yourself by facing challenges and XCO is a worthy challenge.
Please come and support the riders racing SA XCO Champs in July once again at the Coetzenburg Track. It s a great track to spectate at and I am sure the racing will be very exciting to watch.
