Number 4. The toughest yet. Unanimously.<\/p>\n
Running as a standalone event and not part of the Eselfontein festival, this year\u2019s Ezel returned to the eco-hut campsite with a smaller and more limited group of riders taking on the lunar landscape that we\u2019ve come to know over the last few years. The later than usual 9am start gave the 67 riders some time to thaw after an icy evening in the tents, but temperatures soon hit the low 20\u2019s for a perfect day of biking. Stage 1 stayed the same as last year – with a fairly chilled liaison to warm up the legs, and a fast & flowy downhill segment to ease riders into the swing of things. The new stage 2 required a long climb way past the pipeline, which had to be repeated for the unchanged stage 3. Stages 4 and 5 remained unchanged, challenging man an machine to their absolute limits. For some, it would be an extremely long day out on the bike – only finishing just before 6pm – meaning a 9 hour day of rocks, sweat and (close to) tears…<\/p>\n
And for the first time ever, we’ve had a repeat winner. Taking it on year one, Matt Lombardi managed to tie everything together again three years later. With a total racing time of 26:44.601, he smashed the field by winning 4 of the 5 stages. 2nd place belonged to Luke Moir 1.21 behind Lombardi. Last year’s winner Keira Duncan travelled down from KZN to defend his title, but it wasn’t to be, as he unfortunately only managed to take 3rd spot, just 14 seconds behind Moir. On the ladies front, Frankie du Toit took the win in her maiden attempt at the EzelEnduro with a total racing time of 33:36.705. 2nd spot belonged to Steffanie Grossmann, followed by Louise Kotze in 3rd.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n