![\"ccs-62657-0-71740600-1477888288.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-71740600-1477888288.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Photo credit: Craig Kolesky.<\/span><\/p>\nRiders and exhibitors from across Lesotho and South Africa headed to the northern section of the country to test their skill and equipment on a range of courses. Situated at 3222m of altitude, this 3-day festival was not for the faint-hearted.<\/p>\n
Proceedings kicked off with a hotly contested cross-country eliminator, which saw Lesotho Olympian Pheteso Monese edging out fellow countryman in the lactic acid inducing 650m sprint. After lunch at Sky restaurant, highest restaurant in Africa at 3010m, riders hit the slopestyle course to dial in their lines ahead of Saturday\u2019s slopestyle final.<\/p>\n
The day\u2019s main event saw riders effortlessly reach the trail heads with the help of the 1000m long T-Bar giving them 200m of free altitude.<\/p>\n Three-time downhill world champion, Greg Minnaar, claimed overall victory, winning stages 1 and 2 but was out pedaled on stage 3 by Olivier Munnik.<\/p>\n In the female and junior categories, Nikki Alvin and Kayle Seaward earned themselves the win in their respective categories.<\/p>\n XCO Eliminator Results<\/strong><\/p>\n Men: Ladies: Enduro Results:<\/strong><\/p>\n Elite: Female: Juniors: Day two of Crank Chaos kicked off with a 38km Marathon Race and outride to the escarpment overlooking South Africa 1600m below. In a brave move, Pheteso Monese attacked early and spent the day in a lone breakaway that saw him winning the Marathon.<\/p>\n While the marathon riders experienced the beauty of the escarpment, slopestyle Riders were prepping themselves, dialing in their tricks. As the morning progressed, high wind speeds unfortunately forced organizers to cancel the slopestyle event as rider safety would have been comprised.<\/p>\n A silver lining emerged as the Trails Crew from Cape Town set to the course, building an epic dirt jump which escaped the wrath of the wind. Riders and spectators alike were entertained by the Crew\u2019s incredible tricks and 360\u2019s.<\/p>\n After lunch, riders took to the hill for Crank Chaos\u2019 main event, the Downhill Eliminator. The eliminator pits four riders against each other, with each rider railing down a separate track. In the first round a total eight heats of four riders provided some close racing with all four tracks taking a similar amount of time to complete.<\/p>\n By the time the semi-finals arrived, track conditions were perfect and riders were getting to know where and when they could push on the different tracks. In his semi-final, Greg Minnaar was beaten by mere miliimetres by Kayle Seaward in what was arguably the closest battle of the event.<\/p>\n<\/a>Photo credit: Craig Kolesky.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Photo credit: Craig Kolesky.<\/span><\/p>\n
1st: Pheteso Monese
2nd: Teboho Khantsi
3rd: Tumelo Makae<\/p>\n
1st: Larise Venter
2nd: Phia Vermeulen
3rd: Danni Coleman<\/p>\n
1st-: Greg Minnaar
2nd: Christopher Pearton
3rd: Olivier Munnik<\/p>\n
1st: Nikki Alvin
2nd: Larise Venter
3rd: Phia van der Meulen<\/p>\n
1st: Kayle Seaward
2nd: Sharjah Jonson
3rd: Jason Du Toit<\/p>\n
\nGreg Minnaar<\/cite>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>Photo credit: Craig Kolesky.<\/span><\/p>\n