{"id":18331,"date":"2016-04-17T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/04\/17\/a-series-of-unexpected-turns-at-st-ives-for-xco-3-r4590\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:23:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:23:49","slug":"a-series-of-unexpected-turns-at-st-ives-for-xco-3-r4590","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/a-series-of-unexpected-turns-at-st-ives-for-xco-3-r4590\/","title":{"rendered":"A series of unexpected turns at St. Ives for XCO 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The third and final round of the 2016 KZNMTB XCO Provincial Series at St. Ives MTB Park on Saturday 16 April proved to be one for the books, as the day had unexpected tricks and turns up its\u2019 sleeve.<\/p>\n

The beautiful KwaZulu-Natal autumn sun greeted the cross-country enthusiasts with temperatures in the high thirties, but delightful winds, amidst the dry and dusty conditions.<\/p>\n

The first twist of the day, was when the Nippers and Sprogs races were moved an hour out due to there being a swarm of bees under the bridge on the course they were to ride. Course designer Nick Floros and his team quickly set to the task of safely smoking the bees away from the course. For the safety of the youngsters, however, their race began on a slightly altered course away from any possible danger of lurking insects.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-29929900-1460906369.jpg\"<\/a>William Luxford was part of the large Maritzburg College contingent at the 2016 KZNMTN Provincial XCO Cup Series #3 at St. Ives MTB Park on Saturday 16 April. Photo: Paul Botma.<\/span><\/p>\n

The women\u2019s overall race began soon after that, with all the riders starting together due to the smaller women\u2019s field taking part (many were taking part in events in Europe). The Elite Women\u2019s title was claimed by South Coast local, Candice Parker-Dennison.<\/p>\n

The first under-23 and overall man across the line was Kargo Pro MTB Team\u2019s Alan Hatherly. The Elite Men\u2019s competition was won by Stuart Marais, with second and third taken by Jedson Tooms and Tyron Bird respectively.<\/p>\n

Bird, who had spent close to ten months off the bike, was happy with his podium position. \u201cIt was flipping hard! But I\u2019m not too bummed with my finish. I didn\u2019t pre-ride the course, so it was like a lucky packet and I didn\u2019t know what to expect. I remember asking how much longer I had to those on the outside and they told me three laps. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d make it, but I managed to find some hidden energy and it worked out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finally got into a great rhythm on lap three, and then ran out of that explosive energy,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

Bird, who has been suffering with Glandular Fever for over a year, is happy to be back on the bike, feeling the passion for riding once again. \u201cI had so many goals coming into the year, but after being realistic about my health, I\u2019m just so happy to be on my bike,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A surprise rider greeted the Elite Men\u2019s race on the start line, when SA National Elite Women\u2019s XCO Champion, Cherie Redecker, joined the race for a training ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was meant to be in Germany and also at an Italian Cup race, but since I got sick after the African Continental Champs in Lesotho, I decided to rather give those a skip and recover well, and instead of just going over for that, myself and my coach John Wakefield decided that it would be a good idea to train here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-74053000-1460906365.jpg\"<\/a>SA Elite Women’s National XCO Champion, Cherie Vale, popped in for a visit and rode with the Elite Men at the 2016 KZNMTN Provincial XCO Cup Series #3 at St. Ives MTB Park on Saturday 16 April. Photo: Paul Botma.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again local to KwaZulu-Natal after recently relocating, Redecke decided to spice her training up a bit. \u201cWith the KZN Cup having not many of the girls here, he (Wakefield) said that I should see if I could race with the Elite Men. I thought it was a bit ambitious, but it\u2019s really great having to push yourself extra hard. I had to keep going because there were guys behind me and guys in front of me and I didn\u2019t want Alan or Stuart to lap me so it was really good preparation for the World Cup and the support was fantastic and really, really cool,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The Youth Women\u2019s category was claimed by Courtney Smith, with second placed Megan Bircher crossing the finish line on her feet. \u201cIt was a good race,\u201d said Bircher. \u201cThe start was great and from there on I was in the front. Unfortunately I rode the course blind so I didn\u2019t know what to expect. When it got to the technical section, Courtney managed to pass me, and from then on I was just trying to chase her and catch up to her. On my last lap I fell in the rock garden and my chain twisted. About 800 metres after that, it snapped. The rest of the course I had to run. It wasn\u2019t my favourite because I\u2019m not the biggest fan of running, especially in this heat, but it happens to everyone,\u201d she said. Due to a broken collarbone, regular Youth Women\u2019s podium finisher, Tiffany Keep, could not take part, but stood on the sidelines and supported her friends as they rode and ran past.<\/p>\n

Another impressive surprise was the large contingent of pupils from Maritzburg College taking part.<\/p>\n

Maritzburg College\u2019s Gerhard Erasmus said: \u201cWe started cycling at the beginning of the year as an official sport. Well it\u2019s been since 2015 but I\u2019ve taken over since the beginning of the year. We\u2019ve arranged transport to boys twice a week for training, and a race or activity every weekend. The boys love cycling, and that\u2019s why they\u2019re out here. There are still a lot of cyclists with lots of potential. Although it doesn\u2019t seem that our boys have risen to the top just yet, I think that all the structures and systems that we have in place: introducing outside coaches and investing in our high performance centre, we\u2019ll see the guys coming out onto the podium very shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erasmus mentioned that the numbers of boys taking part were growing. \u201cMountain biking and cycling are not something that you need to promote, because it\u2019s in boys, it\u2019s what they love to do. They just do it spontaneously, they\u2019re so enthusiastic, and it\u2019s just amazing to see the guys out there getting so much enjoyment and fun as a school sport,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Summary of Results \u2013 KZNMTB Provincial XCO Cup Series #3 \u2013 16 April 2016<\/h2>\n

Elite Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stuart Marais 01:25:40
Jedson Tooms 01:33:21
Tyron Bird 01:34:34<\/p>\n

Elite Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Candice Parker-Dennison 01:42:53
Roxanne Vale 01:58:37<\/p>\n

Junior Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dean Wortmann 01:06:44
Ryan Naude 01:08:33
Cayde Muldoon 01:12:01<\/p>\n

U23 Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan Hatherly 01:24:29
Marco Joubert 01:33:54<\/p>\n

Youth Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cian Leveridge 00:54:43
Joshua Clipstone 00:55:23
Aaron Michell 00:55:52<\/p>\n

Youth Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney Smith 01:01:55
Megan Bircher 01:05:19<\/p>\n

Sub Junior Boys<\/strong><\/p>\n

Travis Stedman 00:59:12
Mitchel Potgieter 01:00:48
Matthew Millward 01:04:34<\/p>\n

Sub Junior Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sabine Thies 01:00:58
Chloe Bateson 01:01:15
Sarah Ryan 01:11:45<\/p>\n

Sub Vets Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carl Calverley 01:16:55
Sean Merredew 01:17:59
Bradley Rowlett 01:20:53<\/p>\n

Sub Vets Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadine Nunes 01:04:08<\/p>\n

Vets Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warren Price 01:19:34
Ewan Cochran 01:20:26
Hendrik Bester 01:21:54<\/p>\n

Master Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Young 01:12:47
Brian Magor 01:13:41
Tony Stark 01:17:15<\/p>\n

Master Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marie du Toit 00:50:24<\/p>\n

Grand Master Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Staphorst 01:25:42<\/p>\n

Grand Master Women<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frances Marsburg 00:54:18<\/p>\n

Nipper Boys<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aiden Wright 04:25 (Average time)
Connor Wright 04:30 (Average time)
Luca Zietsman 04:41 (Average time)<\/p>\n

Nipper Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hannah Elliot 05:24 (Average time)
Derryn Millward 08:27 (Average time)<\/p>\n

Sprog Boys<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jonathan Watts 04:13 (Average time)
Nicholas de Bruin 04:17 (Average time)
Jayden Moolman 04:46 (Average time)<\/p>\n

Sprog Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emma Clipstone 05:07 (Average time)
Riley Smith 05:19 (Average time)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third and final round of the 2016 KZNMTB XCO Provincial Series at St. Ives MTB Park on Saturday 16 April proved to be one for the books, as the day had unexpected tricks and turns up its\u2019 sleeve. The beautiful KwaZulu-Natal autumn sun greeted the cross-country enthusiasts with temperatures in the high thirties, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2352,825,824,2867,640],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-candice-parker-dennison","tag-kzn-mtb","tag-kznmtb","tag-kznmtb-xco-provincial-series","tag-stuart-marais"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18331","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=18331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18331"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}