![\"ccs-41808-0-49291900-1405507488.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-41808-0-49291900-1405507488.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nCompetitors in the Mountain Bike event \/\/ Image credit: \u00a9 Kolesky\/Nikon\/Lexar<\/span><\/p>\n The first event of the three-discipline cross-over challenge was a 21-kilometre mountain bike race through the seldom-explored Jeffreys Bay hinterland. The route took the athletes from sporting codes as varied as golf, triathlon and trail-running over fast farm roads, cattle tracks and purpose-built singletrack through pockets of indigenous forest along the Seekoei River.<\/p>\n As expected it was the two mountain biking athletes, three-time World Downhill champion Greg Minnaar and South African marathon specialist Kevin Evans who made the early break. They were followed closely by triathlete Raynard Tissink and ultra trail-running phenom Ryan Sandes.<\/p>\n It was a sprint finish for the win, with Minnaar again getting the edge. \u201cYeah you know I think I was a bit lucky,\u201d he commented after the race. \u201cEvery time we got to a hill I started chatting to Kevin, trying to hold him back. He\u2019s such a nice guy that I didn\u2019t really want to be rude. My golfing is terrible and my surfing is very terrible, so hopefully I can hang in there with this result.\u201d<\/p>\n MTB results:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Greg Minnaar<\/p>\n 2. Kevin Evans<\/p>\n 3. Raynard Tissink<\/p>\n 4. Ryan Sandes<\/p>\n With Oakley surfer Jordy Smith added to the mix, the crew headed out for the golf tournament at the Links Golf Course in St Francis. One athlete who was looking forward to the golf event was professional golfer Ruan de Smidt. De Smidt had a very tough time on the mountain bike event where he finished last.<\/p>\n \u201cI was no good in the mountain bike event,\u201d he commented before the golf. \u201cMy legs and bum are a bit sore from not being used to a bike, but it\u2019s all in the arms. So I\u2019m keen, I need all the points I can get,\u201d De Smidt said.<\/p>\n Lying in fourth after the mountain bike event, Ryan Sandes was also looking forward to the golf and had been preparing well. He even went for a professional lesson last week just to get his eye in. \u201cIt was at the SA Golf Institute in Westlake and it was good. Well, interesting, I woke up the next morning and was more stiff than after a 100-mile trail race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Oakley X-Over Challenge is set to continue tomorrow with the surfing contest taking place at The Lower Point in Jeffreys Bay. The first heat is set to paddle out at 9am<\/p>\n There will be an awards function at the Jolly Dolphin tomorrow night.<\/p>\n The Oakley X-Over Challenge hashtag is #OakleyXOVER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeffreys Bay – It was an excited group of athletes and celebrities who gathered at the Fountains Mall for the start of the inaugural Oakley X-Over Challenge – #OakleyXOVER – a multi-discipline event forming part of the JBay Winterfest. Competitors in the Mountain Bike event \/\/ Image credit: \u00a9 Kolesky\/Nikon\/Lexar The first event of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[675,4862,4861],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-greg-minnaar","tag-j-bay","tag-oakley-x-over-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21040","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=21040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21040"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}