{"id":17959,"date":"2016-06-27T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/06\/27\/greig-knox-takes-surprise-sondela-win-r5042\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:00:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:00:42","slug":"greig-knox-takes-surprise-sondela-win-r5042","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/greig-knox-takes-surprise-sondela-win-r5042\/","title":{"rendered":"Greig Knox takes surprise Sondela win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Johannesburg\u2019s Greig Knox, who was a late entrant, surprised even himself when he outlasted his competition to win the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic near Bela-Bela in Limpopo on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-78813200-1467030533.jpg\" data-fileid=\"751880\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"751880\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-78813200-1467030533.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-78813200-1467030533.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Greig Knox of UCT Private Client Holdings wins the 60km feature race at the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic near Bela-Bela on Sunday. Photo: Snapper.Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old UCT Private Client Holdings rider, who grew up in Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal but now lives in Atholl close to Sandton, pulled away in the last five kilometres of the 60km feature race to win in 2:18:34.<\/p>\n<p>He was followed home by Ryno Smith in 2:19:30, with Francois van Tonder third in 2:26:13.<\/p>\n<p>Knox, who entered the feature event at the last moment, said afterwards he was \u201cecstatic\u201d at finishing on top of the podium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have not been doing much training lately because I have had heavy work commitments, so this win does come as a real surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was his first appearance at Sondela as, according to him, he \u201cdo not normally travel this far north to compete\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Knox said he found the course fairly flat, which \u201cmade it tougher than expected\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe went out quite hard to try to create a split because the route was pretty flat and there was quite a big bunch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEight of us broke away after about 20km and then we went into a single-track section.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked hard there and then there was only two of us left at the front (Knox and Smith) and from there we rode up a nice gap on the rest until I managed to get ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-71076800-1467030534.jpg\" data-fileid=\"751881\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"751881\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-71076800-1467030534.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-71076800-1467030534.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Greig Knox (right) of UCT Private Client Holdings and Ryno Smith pushes the pace in the 60km feature race at the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic on Sunday. Photo: Snapper.Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Knox described his debut at the Sondela MTB Classic as a \u201cwonderful experience\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very good. There was some awesome single-track out there and I really enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd, of course, I\u2019m very happy and surprised with the win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Team Bestmed-ASG locked out the podium in the women\u2019s event with 32-year-old Sanet Coetzee winning in 2:39:33. She was followed home by Mariette Hattingh in 2:41:16 and Nina Sender in 2:44:49.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-68476200-1467030535.jpg\" data-fileid=\"751882\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"751882\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-68476200-1467030535.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-68476200-1467030535.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Sanet Coetzee of Team Bestmed-ASG wins the 60km feature race at the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic near Bela-Bela on Sunday. Photo: Snapper.Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Bendeon Mybergh and Alma Bester won the men\u2019s and women\u2019s sections in the 40km, with Damian Mellet and Retha Meyer triumphing in the 20km.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-2xl font-bold\">Full results:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>60km<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Men<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Greig Knox 2:18:34<br \/>2. Ryno Smith 2:19:33<br \/>3. Francois van Tonder 2:26:13<br \/>4. Awie Hatting 2:27:57<br \/>5. Marthinus Greyling 2:28:27<\/p>\n<p><strong>Women<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Sanet Coetzee 2:39:33<br \/>2. Marriette Hattingh 2:41:16<br \/>3. Nina Sender 2:44:49<br \/>4. Karyn Southgate 2:50:26<br \/>5. Anni Summer 2:50:50<\/p>\n<p><strong>40km<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Men<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Bendeon Mybergh 1:21:55<br \/>2. Ryno Smith 1:21:56<br \/>3. Andries Hendrik Nigrini 1:22:03<br \/>4. Ruben Pearson 1:22:04<br \/>5. Francois van Tonder 1:22:24<\/p>\n<p><strong>Women<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Alma Bester 1:30:48<br \/>2. Samantha Oosthuysen 1:31:46<br \/>3. Catherine Albertyn 1:32:37<br \/>4. Chantal Ducker 1:36:53<br \/>5. Chrisna Scott 1:37:14<\/p>\n<p><strong>20km<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Men<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Damian Mellet 42:00<br \/>2. Stefan Meyer 42:04<br \/>3. Johannes Theodorus Westervelt 43:45<br \/>4. John William Lang 46:29<br \/>5. Deon Botha 46:30<\/p>\n<p><strong>Women<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Retha Meyer 47:51<br \/>2. Jennette Visser 51:01<br \/>3. Natalie Strydom 52:15<br \/>4. Tayla Hobson 52:19<br \/>5. Mikyla Burger 53:34<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Johannesburg\u2019s Greig Knox, who was a late entrant, surprised even himself when he outlasted his competition to win the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic near Bela-Bela in Limpopo on Sunday. Greig Knox of UCT Private Client Holdings wins the 60km feature race at the Bestmed Sondela MTB Classic near Bela-Bela on Sunday. Photo: Snapper.Photo The 27-year-old [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2588,2587,2589],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-17959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-bestmed-sondela-mtb-classic","tag-greig-knox","tag-sondela-mtb-classic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17959","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=17959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17959"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=17959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}