{"id":16402,"date":"2017-10-01T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2017\/10\/01\/uct-hit-back-to-take-varsity-mtb-challenge-crown-r6886\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T06:25:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T06:25:16","slug":"uct-hit-back-to-take-varsity-mtb-challenge-crown-r6886","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/uct-hit-back-to-take-varsity-mtb-challenge-crown-r6886\/","title":{"rendered":"UCT hit back to take Varsity MTB Challenge crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Cape Town produced an impressive showing on the final stage to turn a small deficit into overall victory over arch-rivals Stellenbosch in the men\u2019s race of the Varsity MTB Challenge at Nederburg near Paarl today.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-77231800-1506880540.jpg\"<\/a>UCT\u2019s Luke Evans leads the way on the second day of the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge en route to the Cape Town team\u2019s stage and overall victory at Nederburg near Paarl today. Photo: Luke Thorrold<\/span><\/p>\n

Maties however remained firmly in control of the women\u2019s race, with Frances du Toit, Nicky Giliomee and Marie Kempf retaining the title they had won in the inaugural event last year.<\/p>\n

The two-day mountain bike race, sponsored by First National Bank, saw the top varsities in the country compete in three-rider men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams for the honour of being crowned the top tertiary institution in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-90633600-1506880549.jpg\"<\/a>UCT\u2019s Luke Evans (left) and Martin Freyer cross the finish line first on the second day to win the overall men\u2019s title at the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge, which started and finished at Nederburg near Cape Town today. Photo: Luke Thorrold<\/span><\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s race, UCT\u2019s Luke Evans, who rode with Martin Freyer and Alex Rohrer, said their strategy had always been to take the race to Maties on the last day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt it would be pointless hanging back and trying for just a stage win. We always wanted to apply pressure and knew there would be more single-track today, which we felt would be to our advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the overall triumph was \u201chugely satisfying\u201d for them after running out of steam on the opening stage and finishing 74 seconds behind the reigning champions.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-16024100-1506880560.jpg\"<\/a>UCT\u2019s Martin Freyer (left) and Luke Evans celebrate their stage and overall victory on the second day of the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge, which started and finished at Nederburg near Paarl today. Photo: Luke Thorrold<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis really means a lot to us because Maties were the winners last year and there has always been a strong rivalry between us. They have often had the edge, so it was great to come out on top in this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cape Town varsity finished the second stage over 58km in 2:33:31 for a general classification time of 4:42:52, just under 30 seconds ahead of Maties.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-75827400-1506880569.jpg\"<\/a>Stellenbosch University\u2019s Nicky Giliomee (left) and Frances du Toit won the second stage to retain the overall title at the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge, which started and finished at Nederburg near Paarl today. Photo: Luke Thorrold<\/span><\/p>\n

The latter stopped the clock on 2:35:01 for an overall time of 4:43:18, followed by University of Pretoria who came home in 2:49:05 for a combined time of 5:02:06.<\/p>\n

Evans, who struggled when Maties applied some pressure early on, said he got eventually got into his rhythm while climbing Hawequa Pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got to the main part of the climb, there was quite a headwind which led to some tactical racing. But, fortunately, Martin and I got into the first single-track ahead of Maties and were able to open up a gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the racing was on in earnest between themselves and Maties, who were able to make up the deficit after Freyer \u201cdropped a chain\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey caught us at the top of a climb with about 40km to go, but I decided to attack again and I managed to open up a gap. I was able to set my own pace and kept a lead of just over a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind, Freyer stayed with the chasing Maties \u2013 Tristan de Lange and Rinus Maarsingh \u2013 before getting away with about 5km to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the last water point, Martin noticed one of them was tiring and he threw in an attack himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always looking behind to see if he could get away and when I saw that he had, I sat up and waited. We then worked together and were able to bring it home for UCT.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ccs-58780-0-38981800-1506880580.jpg\"<\/a>Stellenbosch University\u2019s Nicky Giliomee (left) and Frances du Toit helped Maties to retain the women\u2019s title at the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge, which started and finished at Nederburg near Paarl today. Photo: Luke Thorrold<\/span><\/p>\n

The Maties women won their second stage on the trot when they crossed the line in 3:10:26 for an overall time of 5:49:05.<\/p>\n

University of Pretoria finished runners-up in 6:00:49 after coming home in 3:18:09, with North-West University completing the podium in 6:16:27 after finishing the stage in 3:26:45.<\/p>\n

Frances du Toit, the national U23 cross-country champion, said the vibe among the student teams had been one of the highlights of the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to interact with our fellow students and to race with like-minded people. It was special for Maties to win this in our backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nVarsity MTB Challenge<\/strong>
Overall Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Men<\/p>\n

1 University of Cape Town 4:42:52
2 Stellenbosch University 4:43:18
3 University of Pretoria 5:02:06
4 North-West University 5:23:30
5 Nelson Mandela University 5:38:03<\/p>\n

Women<\/p>\n

1 Stellenbosch University 5:49:05
2 University of Pretoria 6:00:49
3 North-West University 6:16:27<\/p>\n

General classification<\/p>\n

Men<\/p>\n

1 Matthew Wentworth, Paris Basson (This Way Out) 5:05:20
2 Hanco Kachelhoffer, Armand Swanepoel (Ellsworth-ASG) 5:12:45
3 Leendert Lorenzen, Gavin Viljoen (Vaughan Ulyate Attorneys) 5:26:07<\/p>\n

Women<\/p>\n

1 Jeanie de Villiers, Marleen Lourens (Cannondale-Maties) 6:10:53<\/p>\n

Mixed<\/p>\n

1 Corne Louw, Sarita Louw 5:49:37<\/p>\n

Student teams<\/p>\n

General classification<\/p>\n

Men<\/p>\n

1 Michael Lambrecht, Wayde Finch (UCT) 5:00:32\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Planning your next race?<\/h2>\n

Take a look at our events calendar here<\/a>.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Cape Town produced an impressive showing on the final stage to turn a small deficit into overall victory over arch-rivals Stellenbosch in the men\u2019s race of the Varsity MTB Challenge at Nederburg near Paarl today. UCT\u2019s Luke Evans leads the way on the second day of the FNB-sponsored Varsity MTB Challenge en route […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[935,934],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-varsity-mtb","tag-varsity-mtb-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16402"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}