MTB Blog

See this article on the Bart Brentjens ride last week as reported on MTB Blog on the Turkish MTB site, MTBTR

So, it was hot and tough. Again Bart Brentjens took part and gave the elite field a reason to push themselves.
2 finishers ( excl. Bart ) for the WC elite is however a worrying factor out of a small field of 6 starters.
More in Sub-vet and vets, but not as many as before.
Click on the link below for the results.

WP Cross Country2-2008.xls

This just in from Grevile,

Some additions and adjustments attached>>>
As indicated, the start time of the Sports Class was adjusted, -so their lap times now don’t threaten Christoph!
For Intermediate Men, Wouter Heunis did in fact complete 4 laps, -and thus won his group
There were 4 race numbers for which we did not have rider details, -two have been located, now, and their results incorporated into their category [706 – Clive Gaven MMA; and 803 – Johann Wykerd FM]

There are still 2 race numbers without rider details: 705 and 914.
If anyone knows who was riding with those numbers, please let me know?

Revised results are attached for:
Sport Men
Intermediate Men
Master Men
SA Cross Country 1-2008 1a.xls

This news from Release Centre:
SAUSER WINS AS STANDER BOWS OUT TO BAD LUCK

A bout of bad luck in the form of two punctures ended any chance of Burry Stander impressing his home fans against some of the world’s top mountain bike racers at the first round of the Mazda MTN SA Cup cross-country event in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch at the weekend.

Stander, South Africa’s best male cross-country racer and firm favourite for Olympic selection, led a rather illustrious field for about 6km before his first puncture forced him to watch helplessly as the likes of mountain biking superstars Christoph Sauser and Bart Brentjens took up the podium battle in his absence.

Ultimately, it was Sauser, the two time-World Cup winner and current world marathon champion that would claim the victory, just over two minutes ahead of Brentjens, a former world, Olympic and World Cup champion.

“I was so disappointed not to be able to race the whole race,” said Stander. “I had a 50-second lead before the end of the first lap when I punctured and thought I could ride with the flat rear tyre into the start-finish area for a replacement. But the tyre came off the rim and broke my rear derailleur! The second puncture in the front tyre was totally my fault after I picked a poor line and caught it on a tree stump.

“The international guys helped give the race a great vibe and I was super-hungry to race against them. But now I’ll have to wait until the first World Cup race in early April to see where I am against those guys.”

Despite his DNF, Stander’s hopes of heading to Beijing remained solid when South Africa was given one place each for a male and a female for the 2008 Olympics, according to the International Cycling Union (UCI), which released it’s Beijing Games nation allocation at the weekend.

Another European, Silvio Bundi of Switzerland, collected third place with Roan Exelby’s fourth place making him the first South African home and giving him the early lead in the five-event Mazda MTN SA Cup Series.

Yolande Speedy (IMC Racing) confirmed her status as the country’s leading female cross-country racer winning the Elite women’s race by more than three minutes. Speedy led from start to finish to clock a respectable time of 01hr47min43sec, beating current Dutch national cross-country champion, Laura Turpijn and reigning SA champion, Amy Jane Mundy (Jeep) into second and third respectively.

In the Downhill on Sunday, reigning South African Elite Men’s champion Andrew Neethling (Mongoose) was in a class of his own in claiming the victory with two fast, consistent runs. His first run was a snappy 03min11.61sec and he managed to shave that down to 03min11.22 with his second run, more than 10 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Greg Saharin (03:22.36). Neethling’s archrival, Johann Potgieter, was unable to improve on his first run of 3:23.42, but it was rapid enough to ensure he rounded out Elite Men’s podium positions.

Sub-veteran Gary Barnard showed up his younger rivals somewhat with the second fastest time of the day with a 3:21.77, which he clocked on his second descent, while reigning US Downhill champion, Cole Bangert, added some international spice to the event and ended with a solid fifth place in the Elite Men’s category.

This news from Grevile,

A really good turnout at the first National, -with the Downhill entry of 118, this is more than we have had for the last 5 or 6 years. And 236 at the XC also up on last year, and hopefully predicting a record season. The racing was very good, and wonderfully enhanced by the presence of some the top world XC riders, -what a boost for the other riders to be sharing the track with Christoph Sauser, Bart Brentjens, Silvio Bundi and others!

attached find the results
SA Cross Country 1-2008.xls

SA Downhill 1-2008.xls

The 1st National XC and DH events for 2008 take place in Jonkershoek outside Stellenbosch this week-end.
According to Release Centre, Christoph Sauser, will take part in the event. Sauser was an individual finisher at the 2007 Epic after his team mate fell out. In 2006, his team won the Epic.
Sauser is a former two-time World Cup champion in the cross-country discipline and is the current world champion in the marathon discipline.
He got the bronze medal at the 2000 Games and was listed as a DNF at the 2004 Games. At 31, the Beijing Games are likely to offer his final realistic shot at the coveted gold medal.
So, if you wanna see the top mountain biker in the world race in SA, doing laps, then this is your opportunity.
Bart Brentjens, the 39-year-old Dutch rider who won the inaugural Olympic mountain bike gold medal in Atlanta in 1996 and followed it up with bronze at the 2004 Games is training in the area and may rock up tomorrow as well.
Burry Stander, SA’s remaining Olympic hopeful will be the local boy to watch at the event.
The first event on Saturday will be the single speed category with the age categories following after that.
The elite men will commence their six, 7,5 km laps at 13h00.
Come see the pro’s do their thing.
On Sunday, it’s the downhillers doing their thing. Come see the action!

So, there I was, all entered in a sponsored team for the Terra Firma event at the Totalsports Challenge last week-end. Over the week-end before I had this hectic fever with high temperatures, lots of sweating and a cough reserved for chain smokers. Since my wife was adamant that I see the doc before the race on Sat ( I was entered for the MTB leg ) I decided on Tuesday just to please her and went to her doctor to get some cough syrup or something of the like.
An hour later, I was booked into hospital. Okay, I may not be the fittest guy on the blog but I can at least climb a flight of stairs without passing out.
Well, it seems that bugs ( or viri and bacteria) don’t really care how old or fit you are and whether you’ve entered for an event or not.
When I told the doctor that I was planning to do that race, he assured me that I would die…how nice.
Once checked into the brand new Blaauwberg Hospital’s VIP suite ( the only bed available ) the doctor there also brought up the whole ” people die from this” thing.
Suffice to say, I did not make the event and one week later, I still struggle to put in a day’s work and now am out of breath when climbing that flight of stairs.
So, what now about that Sani2C entry, a mere 6 weeks away…?
See Health24 for more on pneumonia.