Last Saturday, one of the Lowveld’s favorite races, the
Sappi Mankele MTB Challenge took place at the popular Mankele Bike Park renowned
for its steep technical climbs and miles of stunning bush tunnels and technical
descents. Team Valencia showed a strong presence with no less than 7 podiums
across the marathon and half marathon disciplines.
In the marathon, Amy McDougall claimed silver with Samantha Sanders coming in 3rd. 'It was
my first ride on my new Scott Spark 900 RC, I loved how the bike felt and
looking forward to many fast and happy miles with it! I wasn’t 100% recovered
from a recent bout of the flu and felt my chest closing up as soon as I pushed
hard on the climbs. I am still
happy with my ride as I can feel my form has improved.'
Samantha Sanders suffered from major tyre issues as she cut
her sidewall and eventually had to insert a tube which took a massive chunk out
of her time. She fought hard to close the gap but had lost too much
time. 'I was sad to have punctured in the first 14km of the race. Sappi Mankele
is one of my favourite events and I was so looking forward to racing the
course. But this is MTB racing and it’s always unpredictable. As usual the
Mankele gave us a tough but enjoyable challenge and it was smiles all round in
the end. A massive shout out to my sponsor Valencia and well done to everyone
who rode!'
Emily Clarke and Kirsten Gillespie rounded up the senior ladies
podium making it a full Valencia podium with Amy on the top step. 'Sappi Mankele was a tough but rewarding race for me. Every metre of climbing was justified by the mot spectacular singnle track and bush tunnels any mtb chick could wish. Superb race, made possible my the V-Team.' - Emily Clarke
In the 35km half marathon, Armand Lombard who has shown huge
talent on the XCO circuit lately showed diversity in his talent when he won
overall on Saturday in a time of 1:21:52 exactly 3 minutes ahead of his nearest
competition, Ryan Terry.
16 year old Monique Swart rode like a star coming 2nd
overall and first in the youth age category. 'It was a fun race. I liked the
slippery single track and downhills. I felt strong throughout and was happy
with my result.' Jessica Schulz of Valencia rounded off the Youth Girls podium in third.
The race village was full of muddy smiles and war stories,
which is what mountain biking is all about!
Next event for the team: National XCO at Wolwespruit in
Pretoria.
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