The South African Marathon National Champ, a title held and
successfully defended by Robyn de Groot, was what each rider was there to
compete for. The race is open to any rider but competitors are either Elite
category or age groupers; all Pros compete in the Elite age category.
The course started and finished at the Cascades Bike Park,
an area which I am familiar with, not for marathon racing but rather for the
World Cup XCO course built there. I was relatively skeptical about having a
Marathon race in and around Pietermaritzburg but that skepticism was quickly
laid to rest. It is definitely a world class marathon course with a substantial
amount of climbing and a good number of technical sections. It tests both your
riding ability & skill, concentration and endurance.
I planned my race around the climbing, I knew that nutrition
and hydration in the first half would make or break your race. The first 14km
of the course was difficult, the climbing was steep and more or less continuous
with a few little technical sections in between. The race started fast and hard
with Robin de Groot pushing the pace from the front up the climbs. I knew that
she would push the tempo here to compensate on her slower riding through the
technical sections, but I also knew that there was still plenty of climbing to
come so I found a good tempo which I could sustain. Through water point 1
myself and team mate Amy McD were still together and sitting in the bottom of
the top ten.
Amy unluckily suffered a sidewall and had to stop & repair. By
the top of the steepest climb and at water point 2 I was part of a trio with
Yolandie Du Toit (Garmin) & Leana De Jager (Sasol Racing) I knew there was
a descent to follow and I put down the hammer here knowing I was the faster
technical rider. I managed to drop the girls and had a lonely ride until we
dropped into some wicked single track and descended before the last climb out.
Here i caught Yolande De Villiers (Sasol Racing) and another rider who were
both polite enough to give me track after a few seconds of pressure from
behind. De Villiers worked hard to catch me and sat my wheel for a while when
we started back up again.
The short, punchy switchback climbs and technical
riding that followed allowed me to use my XCO skills to power away from her.
From there on I focused on getting through all the technical sections as fast
as I possibly could. I knew Jeanie Bomford was still ahead of me but I had no
idea how far. In my mind there was still hope for a podium finish and so I
just continued pushing hard.
Luckily so, because through the last water point I
spotted Jeanie. At that point I knew that I had caught her so I just maintained
my tempo up the climb to close the gap and passed. Once I had caught her it was
pretty much jubilation and a 10km stretch home.
A podium at SA Champs coming back from an injury was most
welcomed and I was elated to finish 3rd. I was also happy to again put Valencia
on the podium next to Candice Neethling (Velo Life) and Robyn de Groot.
Of
course results like this are never through the work of the rider alone- Thanks to my team at Valencia & Valencia Cycles for your ongoing support, my coach
Bosseau Boshoff (Infinita Training Academy) who always goes the extra mile. And also
Continental Tires for keeping me rubber side down & ADIDAS Eyewear.
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