![\"20130606_James_Reid_2013_SA_Marathon_Champs.JPG\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-49965100-1370597205.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nJames Reid (sponsored by Trek, Craft, and Privateer) during the 2013 Cycling SA-MTB Marathon Championships at Induna Adventures in Hazyview, Mpumalanga on Saturday 1 June 2013. Photo credit: Action Photos<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Reid said he felt as if his training for the UCI XCO World Cups in Europe had all culminated in peaking for this marathon race. \u201cI put in a big block of work before the world cups. The training has been intense, right down to my diet as well as powering up.\u201d<\/p>\n Twenty-year-old Reid finished 23rd and 18th at the German and Czech Republic under-23 world cups respectively. \u201cIt came right for me at the marathon champs and I could use it! The course was explosive with short, punchy climbs and lots of up-and-down sections. It required a lot of power and it all seemed to come right for me on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Racing tactics came into play for Reid, as he raked up his first marathon championship title in his young career. \u201cFrom mostly racing cross-country, I had to save as much as I could until the end,\u201d he continued. \u201cI only have so much to spend. The other guys have bigger tanks and bigger engines. I knew my only opportunity was to get into the last singletrack section first at around 10 kilometres to go. It was there, or never for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI got in first and managed to hold off the chasing riders until the end. It felt like 8km of drag racing. Everyone had been watching Max (Knox); the defending champ was a marked man. But you have to race the route and not the riders.\u201d<\/p>\n Reid completed the 112km race in 4 hours 40 minutes and 36 seconds, followed by Nico Bell in second place (04:41:08) and Kevin Evans in third place (04:41:41).<\/p>\n For De Groot, her transition has been from skinny road tyres as a professional cyclist in the European Lotto Belisol Ladies team to mountain bike knobblies as a non-professional at home.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has always been a dream of mine to be a national champion,\u201d said De Groot. \u201cI think I\u2019ve finished second twice in road racing, but never managed to achieve that title. I\u2019ve been doing well in the MTN (National MTB) Series, and I\u2019ve managed to podium in all the races, so I thought I might as well give it (National MTB Marathon Champs) a bash.\u201d<\/p>\n