{"id":22061,"date":"2013-02-11T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2013\/02\/11\/macdonald-and-kleinhans-crowned-isuzu-ride-the-rock-champions-r438\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:33:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:33:48","slug":"macdonald-and-kleinhans-crowned-isuzu-ride-the-rock-champions-r438","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/macdonald-and-kleinhans-crowned-isuzu-ride-the-rock-champions-r438\/","title":{"rendered":"Macdonald and Kleinhans crowned ISUZU Ride The Rock champions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family:arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size:12px\">Neil MacDonald (FedGroup-Itec) and Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) were crowned ISUZU Ride The Rock men\u2019s and women\u2019s Champions after completing the three challenging stages (194km in total) in a combined time of 08hours16minutes15seconds and 09hours27minutes22seconds respectively.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>According to MacDonald the ISUZU Ride The Rock was tougher than expected.  \u201cI come from Johannesburg, we  don\u2019t have these type of routes to train on.  I had a scare just after the first single track today when Lourens Luus\u2019 (RE\u2219CM) front wheel touched my rear derailer, leaving me with limited use of my gears.  The first climb felt good with Erik Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM ) setting the pace.  I got into the single track second behind Erik and could pretty much ride my own pace.  At the bottom by the first water-point Brandon Stewart (FedGroup-Itec) met up with us and set a good pace, with me pacing on the drags.  I put a few good efforts in on the guys, but they stuck.  So all that I could do was ride conservatively and pace myself to the end.  This is my first individual stage race and I really enjoyed it, even more so with the win.  I\u2019ll definitely be back next year,\u201d says MacDonald.  Nico Pfitzenmaier took second place after three days of racing, while Louis-Bresler Knipe finished third.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to have a win,\u201d says Kleinhans.  \u201cI really liked today\u2019s route, it was short and fast, much nicer than the 2012 route.  Physically I felt good this weekend, but technically I still have a lot of work to do.   All in all I am feeling very confident.  The ISUZU Ride The Rock is an amazing event.  It is super training for the Epic especially on the technical side, it has everything.  Erik and I love this event, nice people and great set up.  We definitely want to come back next year,\u201d says Kleinhans.  Catherine Williamson took second place after three days of racing, while Ischen Stopforth finished third.<\/p>\n<p>Stage Three\u2019s ISUZU King and Queen of the mountain went to power couple Erik and Ariane Kleinhans.   <\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family:arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size:12px\">Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) was crowned the 2013 ISUZU Ride The Rock women\u2019s champion after completing the three day stage race (194km in total) in an impressive combined time of 09hours27minutes22seconds.  <\/span><\/span><\/em><em><strong>Photo Credit ~ Cherie Vale \/ Newsport Media<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family:arial, sans-serif\"><span style=\"font-size:12px\">Neil MacDonald (FedGroup-Itec) was crowned the 2013 ISUZU Ride The Rock men\u2019s champion after completing the three day stage race (194km in total) in an impressive combined time of 08hours16minutes15seconds.  Seen here (from left to right):  Lourens Luus and Neil MacDonald.  <\/span><\/span><\/em><em><strong>Photo Credit ~ Cherie Vale \/ Newsport Media<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">EVENT DETAILS<\/span><\/em><\/strong><strong><em>: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The ISUZU Ride the Rock is a full service individual mountain bike stage race that offers riders the opportunity to ride on the most spectacular routes in the heart of South Africa&#8217;s Cederberg Conservancy.  Each stage\u2019s route is challenging yet rewarding, while encapsulating the pristine beauty of the Cederberg.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">STAGE ONE<\/span><\/strong><strong>:  \t <\/strong>Friday, 08 February 2013 <\/p>\n<p><strong>Village:\t\t\t\t\t  \t\t  <\/strong>Sanddrif<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distances:<\/strong>\t\t   +\/- 81 km<\/p>\n<p><strong>Start:\t\t\t\t\t <\/strong>06h30<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage Winners:  Men:  <\/strong>Neil MacDonald (FedGroup-Itec) 03hours21minutes51seconds \/ <strong>Women:  <\/strong>Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM)  03hours49minutes58seconds<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">STAGE TWO<\/span><\/strong><strong>:  \t\t\t\t\t<\/strong>Saturday, 09 February 2013 <\/p>\n<p><strong>Village:\t\t\t\t\t  \t\t  <\/strong>Sanddrif<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distances:<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t   +\/- 61 km<\/p>\n<p><strong>Start:\t\t\t\t\t <\/strong>07h00<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage Winners:  Men:  <\/strong>Erik Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) 02hours46minutes19seconds \/ <strong>Women:  <\/strong>Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) 03hours15minutes46seconds<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">STAGE THREE<\/span><\/strong><strong>:  <\/strong>Sunday, 10 February 2013 <\/p>\n<p><strong>Village:\t\t\t  <\/strong>Sanddrif<\/p>\n<p><strong>Distances:<\/strong>         +\/- 52 km<\/p>\n<p><strong>Start:\t\t\t\t  <\/strong>07h00<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage Winners:  Men:  <\/strong>Louis-Bresler Knipe (ISUZU Contego) 02hours05minutes54seconds \/ <strong>Women:  <\/strong>Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) 02hours21minutes38seconds<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">Like our FaceBook pages<\/span>: <\/p>\n<p>Stillwater Sport &amp; Entertainment<\/p>\n<p><strong>Isuzu South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">Follow us on Twitter<\/span>: <\/p>\n<p>@StillwaterSport<\/p>\n<p><strong>@isuzusa<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information on the ISUZU Ride the Rock MTB Race visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cederbergevents.co.za\/\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">www.cederbergevents.co.za<\/a> or contact Stillwater Sport &amp; Entertainment on 086 138 3591 or email <a href=\"mailto:info@stillwatersports.com\" rel=\"\">entries@stillwatersports.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neil MacDonald (FedGroup-Itec) and Ariane Kleinhans (RE\u2219CM) were crowned ISUZU Ride The Rock men\u2019s and women\u2019s Champions after completing the three challenging stages (194km in total) in a combined time of 08hours16minutes15seconds and 09hours27minutes22seconds respectively. According to MacDonald the ISUZU Ride The Rock was tougher than expected. \u201cI come from Johannesburg, we don\u2019t have these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-22061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22061","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22061"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=22061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}