Sunday 8 February 2015 saw round two of the Inter School Eliminator Series hosted by Herzlia High School. Riders, parents and spectators were met by a very rare windless day in Vredehoek. There were 25 schools represented from around the province, including our first set of ladies for 2015. With riders now aware what was at stake in terms of prizes from our sponsors, they all had their game face on and came prepared! The course was tight as riders navigated their way through the school corridors and the sports hall. A huge thank you to Conrad Scholtz from Builders Express who helped out with the ramp to get the riders up the stairs! There was plenty cheering from spectators and team mates as riders blitzed through the narrow corridor and across the finish line with each rider advancing through another heat adding points towards their school team in order to be crowned overall champs and gain the main prize of R10 000 in Enjoy Fitness cycling kit and a Rayne Cam.
It was all about the start, who could power out in front and control the race, the tight racing lead the occasional bumping of bars and a few tumbles – all a part of the racing action. You could see the look of determination on the riders faces as they hammered down in the sprint finish to get across the line in order to claim some of the awesome prizes on offer from our sponsors: Trek Bikes, Fox Racing, Enjoy Fitness, Rayne Cam, Skullcandy and Ogio. Olympic Cycles bike shop supported the event and helped out with a few technicals, Chris Nixon Cycling Academy gave a voucher for a private skills clinic and we also had a set of weekend passes to Ultimate X – South Africa’s premium extreme sports festival which was raffled off to one broad smiled Zander Kruger from DF Malan.
The determination from the u/14 boys was unmatched – they accelerated off the start line pushed as hard as they could the whole way around the course. It was new comer Zander Kruger who managed to stay ahead of the field to ride his way to victory ahead of Jamie Penfold who jumped a step up from round 1.
- Zander Kruger (Hoérskool DF Malan)
- Jamie Penfold (Paul Roos Gymnasium)
- Luke Moir (SACS)
- George Ducharme (Paul Roos Gymnasium)
Spectators got to witness the first ladies race for 2015, despite a small field the u/16 ladies offered up a huge serving of action as they chased each other around the course, there was no holding back as they matched the speed of the boys.
- Jessi Nixon (Fish Hoek High School)
- Chloe Parker (Rustenberg Girls High School)
- Holly Erasmus (International School of Cape Town)
The u/16 boys were once again dominated by round one winner Joshua De Freitas who showed the importance of a fast start to stay ahead of the pack. The other three finalists had no answer for Joshua but had to fight it out along the final sprint to claim the last two podium steps and vital points for the overall.
- Joshua De Freitas (Paarl Vallei)
- Luke Williams (Paarl Boys High School)
- Neil von Tonder (Hoérskool DF Malan)
- Jean Louis Strydom (Hoérskool Stellenbosch)
After falling short in round one, defending u/19 champ Manie Lubbe was pleased to be back in the finals only to be out classed by a clinical and flying Jarrod Van Den Heever who left the pack trailing behind him.
- Jarrod van den Heever (Paarl Boys High)
- Manie Lubbe (Hoérskool DF Malan)
- Morne Hollander (Hoérskool DF Malan)
- Andre Sparks (Reddam House)
For more photos from the 2nd round of ISES_2015 racing visit the One Movement Facebook page.
Entries are open for the 3rd and final round of racing, which takes place at Bloemendal Wine Estate, Durbanville, on Sunday 15 February. You can enter online clicking here.