![\"ccs-62657-0-81822200-1464708877.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-81822200-1464708877.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Trek-supported Brendon Davids is hoping to ‘blow off some steam’ at Sunday’s 60km Sappi Karkloof Marathon, the feature race of this weekend’s 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival at Karkloof Country Club, as he looks to repeat his 2013 victory at the race. Hayden Brown\/ Gameplan Media<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThe PE national was really disappointing for me so it would be nice to go to Karkloof this weekend and blow off some steam!\u201d confirmed Davids.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince PE I\u2019ve put in a really big block of training as I prepare to go over to Europe for a bit, so I\u2019m going to have ride quite a smart race this weekend if I\u2019m going to be in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both the race and the region are familiar territory for Davids, now competing as a Trek supported rider, and he is eager to use his local knowledge and previous good performances to his advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ride in the area quite often and Karkloof is a race I have always enjoyed and done relatively well at before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won there in 2013 in my first outing at Karkloof so I\u2019d obviously like to repeat that again this year, especially having also led the race in 2014 before I suffered a double puncture and then missed last year\u2019s race because I was competing at African Continental Champs in Rwanda.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cIt has been quite tough being on my own now so a result at Karkloof would be a welcome one!\u201d said Davids. \u201cThat said though, while I\u2019m going there to race hard, I\u2019m also going to enjoy the trails and being out on my bike again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having raced to 53rd and 32nd position at the German and French legs of the UCI MTB World Cup respectively in recent weeks, Kargo Pro Cycling Team\u2019s Hatherly jets back into the country needing to shake off the effects of both the jetlag and health issues of his recent travels quickly if he is to join Davids and Jessop at the sharp end of the field and challenge for this year\u2019s crown.<\/p>\n
The race\u2019s title is one that has evaded young Hatherly in recent years, despite the XCO flyer having led the race for much of the first 40km in 2015, ultimately finishing sixth however \u2013 like Davids \u2013 his recent frustration may just provide the motivation he needs to rectify that this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping for a solid set of results across the board,\u201d explained Hatherly\u2019s Kargo Pro Cycling Team manager, Shaun Peschl. \u201cHopefully Alan\u2019s better after being a bit sick last week before the World Cup in France.\u201d<\/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":" Last minute entries by cross country stars Brendon Davids and Alan Hatherly for Sunday\u2019s 60km Sappi Karkloof Marathon, the feature race of this weekend\u2019s 2016 Sappi Karkloof Classic Trail Festival which takes place at Karkloof Country Club, is set to produce an interesting tussle between the duo and fellow XCO ace, Julian Jessop. Having confirmed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[134,959,1013,421,2682,2690,1318,2689],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-alan-hatherly","tag-brendon-davids","tag-julian-jessop","tag-karkloof-classic","tag-karkloof-country-club","tag-karkloof-marathon","tag-sappi-karkloof-classic","tag-sappi-karkloof-marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090","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=18090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18090"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}