![\"ccs-62657-0-29130400-1464873906.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-29130400-1464873906.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Tiaan Odendaal will have the rare opportunity to challenge for three consecutive STIHL Karkloof Enduro titles at this weekend’s 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival at Karkloof Country Club. Anthony Grote\/ Gameplan Media<\/span>\n<\/div>\nThe cherry on the top came for the 22 year-old in Lesotho though when he raced to victory at the African Continental Championships at AfriSki Resort against another strong field.
\u201cI used to just ride Enduro as really good training for my Downhill racing but things are going quite well for me in Enduro at the moment and it is such a cool sport that I am considering taking it up full time on top of Downhill,\u201d said Odendaal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t thought too much about the possibly of pushing for my third Karkloof Enduro title in a row ahead of Saturday\u2019s race but last year there was a bit of a timing issue that meant I shared the title and so this year I definitely want to try push and see if I can get a big gap just to be safe,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While having competed in the Karkloof regularly throughout his career, Odendaal is not a regular visitor to the region, and the change in location of the event\u2019s course has also added a new element of the unknown to Saturday\u2019s mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurprisingly I don\u2019t actually get to ride in the Karkloof all that often,\u201d the defending champ ironically explained while enjoying a 30km outing through the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what I can see, Hylton (Turvey) has done a really great job with the track once again though!<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the drought, it is super dry though and I\u2019m sure it will be pretty loose come Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite starting as pre-race favourite, Odendaal will have his hands full as many of the province\u2019s regular top performers set to tackle the challenge as well.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Double defending champ, Kim Westbrook will be pushed by a strong women’s field for this year’s STIHL Karkloof Enduro spoils at this weekend’s 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival at Karkloof Country Club. Anthony Grote\/ Gameplan Media<\/span>\n<\/div>\nAll of Hilton Frost (PYGA Industries), Craig Paul, David Hogan, Andre Pretorius, Jedson Tooms (ROAG Racing), Heiko Redecker, Shane Martin and Sharjah Jonsson have confirmed their participation already while the likes of Tim Bentley and Travis Browning \u2013 amongst others \u2013 are not unknown to submit an eleventh hour entry.
\u201cThere is a strong field at most Enduro events in KZN, especially Karkloof, so I\u2019m sure all the usual suspects will be there again this year,\u201d said Odendaal. \u201cI\u2019m pretty happy with how I\u2019m feeling though so hopefully I can get the win on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s front, Kim Westbrook \u2013 also double STIHL Karkloof Enduro defending champion \u2013 has been the province\u2019s form Enduro competitor however as the sport\u2019s popularity continues to grow amongst the province\u2019s female riders, the brave bubbly blonde flyer is starting to be challenged for top honours regularly.<\/p>\n
While Sappi Howick Enduro winner, Charn\u00e9 Dreyer will miss the contest due to illness, young Sabine Thies (Greg Minnaar Cycles) \u2013 who won the recent Pietermaritzburg MTB Festival \u2013 and regular podium contender Kathryn Fourie are confirmed for Saturday\u2019s tussle while Tamryn Taylor, Michele Reynolds, Tamika Haw and Nadine Nunes add further depth to the bout.<\/p>\n
The 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival takes place at Karkloof Country Club on Saturday, 4 and Sunday, 5 June. The event offers 21km, 10km and 5km trail running races, 60km, 40km, 20km and 10km mountain bikes events as well as an Enduro. Entries can be submitted via www.roag.co.za<\/a> while more information can be found at www.karkloofmtb.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s strong interest in Enduro mountain biking is reflected in another richly talented men\u2019s and women\u2019s field for this weekend\u2019s STIHL Karkloof Enduro as day one of the 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival at Karkloof Country Club gets underway on Saturday with double defending champ Tiaan Odendaal keen to lead the charge once more. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[220,421,2682,2680,2681],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-enduro","tag-karkloof-classic","tag-karkloof-country-club","tag-karkloof-enduro","tag-stihl-karkloof-enduro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18081","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=18081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18081"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}