![\"ccs-41808-0-73050300-1406643170.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-41808-0-73050300-1406643170.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nUSN\/Hi-TEC’s Jeannie Dreyer will be hoping to clinch her second women’s title in as many years when she tackles the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge at the Eston Club on Sunday 3 August. \/\/ imge credit: Anthony Grote<\/span><\/p>\n The USN\/Hi-Tec athlete claimed a comprehensive victory at the Eston Club annual last year when she overcame the likes of international rider Kendall Ryan, emerging junior sensation Bianca Haw and regular KZN top performer Eszter Erdelyi.<\/p>\n With Ryan back home in the States, Erdelyi injured and Haw\u2019s 2014 participation unclear, Dreyer is unsure of who her fellow title hopefuls will be this time around and so the mother of two and wife of \u2018Dusi Duke\u2019 Martin Dreyer is busy preparing for Sunday\u2019s clash in much the same way as she always does.<\/p>\n \u201cLike any race I go into, I\u2019d certainly love to win again this weekend,\u201d said Dreyer. \u201cI don\u2019t think there is any added pressure on me at all being the defending champ and I\u2019m looking forward to racing at Eston again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt a recent race in Durban \u2013 where there was R20000 up for grabs I went in there guns blazing only to break my chain after only 15km \u2013 reminded me that you can\u2019t ride to win, you have to ride to enjoy. If you end up winning then that is just a bonus!<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure who will be there on Sunday and even if I did, there could always be a few surprises that come out of the woodwork on the day so I\u2019ll just take things as they come on Sunday,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n With a sublime eighth place at the recent UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships at Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg and a strong showing towards the tail end of the MTN National MTB Series under her belt, Dreyer has no lack of confidence coming into this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cWorlds definitely gave me some really great confidence though and it was only a month ago so I couldn\u2019t ask for a better build up to Eston!\u201d said Dreyer.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Worlds I said I wanted to go back to multisport again \u2013 where my heart really lies \u2013 so I\u2019ve been doing a fair bit of running recently and we\u2019ll see on Sunday just how that has impacted on my cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n Online late entries are open until midnight on Wednesday 30 July as well as at the venue at Eston Club on the day and so Dreyer will have to wait until she arrives on the start line for final confirmation as to who her main challengers will be.<\/p>\n Dreyer can however be certain that Coffeberry\/VELOlife\u2019s age group ace Natalie Bergstrom will be hoping to put a spanner in the defending champ\u2019s works and the 41-year-old North Coast rider is looking to get one last positive result under her belt before she jets off to the 2014 UCI MTB Masters World Championships.<\/p>\n Racing in the women\u2019s 40-44 year old category \u2013 the same division in which she clinched gold at last year\u2019s global masters showpiece held at Cascades, Pietermaritzburg \u2013 Bergstrom is hoping to reign supreme on the international stage once more and a solid performance in Eston will be the ideal way to bring down the curtain on her Worlds preparations.<\/p>\n While Haw\u2019s participation remains hazy, her fellow Time Freight VELOlife teammates Alexandra Mapstone and Frankie du Toit will be riding and undoubtedly hoping their recent good cross country form in the SA MTB Cup Series and at the SA National MTB Champs will aid in their bid to challenge some of their more experienced rivals for a top five finish.<\/p>\n Normal entries for the 2014 Illovo Eston MTB Challenge close at midnight on Sunday 27 July and late entries atmidnight on Wednesday 30 July. Entries can be submitted via www.roag.co.za<\/a> or at Eston Club on the day.<\/p>\n 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. More info can be found at www.illovoestonmtb.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KwaZulu-Natal\u2019s Midlandson Sunday for this year\u2019s Illovo Eston MTB Challenge which she hopes will pan out in her favour once more. USN\/Hi-TEC’s Jeannie Dreyer will be hoping to clinch her second women’s title in as many years when she tackles the Illovo Eston MTB Challenge at the Eston Club on Sunday 3 August. \/\/ imge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2393,1459],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-illovo-eston-mtb-challenge","tag-jeannie-dreyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21028","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=21028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21028"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}