{"id":21026,"date":"2014-08-01T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T03:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2014\/08\/01\/weather-gods-smile-upon-2014-illovo-eston-r1512\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T11:59:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T11:59:30","slug":"weather-gods-smile-upon-2014-illovo-eston-r1512","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/weather-gods-smile-upon-2014-illovo-eston-r1512\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather gods smile upon 2014 Illovo Eston"},"content":{"rendered":"

A revamped course and a superb weather forecast will see a massive field descend upon Eston Club in KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s Midlands this Sunday for one of the province\u2019s biggest one-day mountain bike races, the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-2-0-54894800-1406876328.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Participants of the 2014 Illovo Eston MTB Challenge which takes place at the Eston Club this Sunday are yet again in for spectacular weather and magnificent views.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credit: Anthony Grote\/ Gameplan Media<\/p>\n

Over 2500 entries landed on the organisers\u2019 desks at the close of the online entry process and hundreds more are expected to enter on the day, particularly in the 10km STIHL Kids Ride and 18km Tala\/aQuell\u00e9 Family Ride events.<\/p>\n

At the front of the field in the 60km Illovo Eston Marathon the men\u2019s race appears to be a five horse race as the likes of defending champ Rourke Croeser and his Kargo Pro MTB teammate Travis Walker square off against Trek South Africa\u2019s Brendon Davids, TIB Insurance\u2019s Andrew Hill and FedGroup ITEC\u2019s Max Knox.<\/p>\n

Despite consecutive Illovo Eston victories being an attractive feat, Croeser insists Sunday\u2019s race is all about ensuring a victory for Kargo, regardless of which of the setup\u2019s charges clinch the win.<\/p>\n

An error in the dying stages of 2013\u2019s clash cost Davids dearly and he is relishing the chance to right the wrongs of the past this time around.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-2-0-79627700-1406876481.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Trek South Africa’s Brendon Davids is eager to make amends for his 2013 title-costing error when he takes on the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge at the Eston Club this Sunday, 3 August.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credit: Anthony Grote \/ Gameplan Media<\/p>\n

Kargo Pro MTB\u2019s Stuart Marais, Quattro\u2019s Tyron Bird, Hammar Nutrition\u2019s David Low and Thule South Africa\u2019s Tyronne White may not be likely podium challengers however there is plenty of experience amongst this quartet and, together with junior Alan Hatherly of Heart-Sports ASG, may well make up the second half of the top ten.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s sees USN\/Hi-TEC\u2019s Jeannie Dreyer starting as the clear-cut favourite going into this year\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n

Dreyer claimed a commanding victory in 2013 and despite turning her attention towards multisport rather than purely MTB since her remarkable eighth place finish in the women\u2019s race of the UCI MTB Marathon World Championships at Cascades at the end of June, it will take a lot of work by the other ladies to prevent her from making it two in a row.<\/p>\n

Like it\u2019s 60km compatriot, the 40km aQuell\u00e9 Half Marathon has enjoyed a route refreshing ahead of the starter\u2019s gun sending the hundreds of mountain biking enthusiasts on their way and the new course is set to give participants a unique perspective of the region.<\/p>\n

The popular 40km race will sees riders taken on a journey which includes a significant increase in single track whilst also giving them the novel experience of cycling behind the tumbling walls of water of one of the local waterfalls.<\/p>\n

The 18km journey through the pristine Tala Game Reserve and the possibility of crossing paths with some of the local wildlife has scores of the region\u2019s more social riders of all ages, shapes and sizes eagerly awaiting their chance to take to the Eston trails this weekend.<\/p>\n

Registration for the event dubbed one of South Africa\u2019s most prestigious one day events takes place from05h30-09h30 at Eston Club on Sunday 3 August. The Illovo Eston MTB Challenge\u2019s 60km Illovo Eston Marathon, 40km aQuell\u00e9 Half Marathon, 18km Tala\/aQuell\u00e9 Family Ride and the 10km STIHL Kids Ride take place at the Eston Club on Sunday 3 August. <\/p>\n

More info can be found at www.illovoestonmtb.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A revamped course and a superb weather forecast will see a massive field descend upon Eston Club in KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s Midlands this Sunday for one of the province\u2019s biggest one-day mountain bike races, the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge. Participants of the 2014 Illovo Eston MTB Challenge which takes place at the Eston Club this Sunday are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2393,487],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-illovo-eston-mtb-challenge","tag-mtb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21026","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=21026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21026"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}