![\"ccs-62657-0-60708400-1464597872.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-60708400-1464597872.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Durbanite Andrew Hill (pictured here) will join forces with Paarl\u2019s Adriaan Louw in a bid to regain the title in the PwC Great Zuurberg Trek mountain bike race. Photo: Zoon Cronje<\/span><\/p>\nLast year Hill, who races out of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, joined forces with Cape Town\u2019s Chris Wolhuter, but had to settle for the runners-up spot.<\/p>\n
This time Wolhuter will team up with new partner Craig Boyes and the Imbuko-Freewheel Cycology outfit should be strong contenders after dominating the Liberty Winelands MTB Encounter in mid-April.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing back to Zuurberg is always a treat for me,\u201d said the 34-year-old Hill, who placed fifth overall in last month\u2019s nine-day Old Mutual joBerg2c.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think the event has something special, even to the seasoned mountain biker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trails, views and the Eastern Cape hospitality are up there among the best in the country and I love heading back to take part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill said he was looking forward to partnering with the 25-year-old Louw, who hails from Paarl in the Western Cape, for another shot at the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdriaan and I get on well off the bike, but, more importantly, we gel on the bike, really working together when it is called for.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is going well at the moment and it will be a great advantage to be able to tap into his experience and strengths in our bid to regain the title.\u201d<\/p>\n
While their focus will be on racing, Hill said they were looking forward to the overall experience of competing at Zuurberg after a busy start to the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe three days are certainly going to be something special for us. I\u2019m looking forward to the fun aspect of the trails and the relaxed atmosphere at the hotel after each day\u2019s riding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill said the terrain set the race apart from other events with the daily finish at the top of Zuurberg Pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a tester for the racing guys and provides a great sense of achievement for the rest of the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also enjoy the views on the queen stage (day two) where you can see the Karoo on the one side and the coast on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Port Elizabeth-based Merrell team of SanMari Woithe and Andrea Shirley will target a hat-trick of victories in the women\u2019s category.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to teaming up with SanMari, with whom I\u2019ve raced a lot,\u201d said Shirley<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love racing in our \u2018back yard\u2019 and our objective is to win while having as much fun as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said they knew each other\u2019s strengths and weaknesses, which helped in a stage race with such varied course conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mountain bike pros Andrew Hill and Adriaan Louw will be out to re-assert their authority on the three-day PwC Great Zuurberg Trek when it takes place just outside Port Elizabeth from June 3 to 5. The TIB Insurance-Contego team made light work of the inaugural event two years ago, claiming a hat-trick of stage wins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2185,476,630,1323],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-adriaan-louw","tag-andrew-hill","tag-great-zuurberg-trek","tag-pwc-great-zuurberg-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18098","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=18098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18098"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}