Mountain bike series kicks off in style

The KIA mountain bike series kicked-off in style last weekend with the Klein-Aus Vista challenge in the south of the country marking the first of five races due to take place along the year. A total of 124 riders made their way to tackle the difficult but scenic track at the Klein-Aus Vista Lodge, which forms part of the Gondwana Collection. The race was stretched over two days –Friday and Saturday– and sub-divided into two race distances with the half-marathon being 70 kilometres long while the riders had to overcome 140 km during the full marathon. In the elite men’s category, defending champion Tristan de Lange made no mistake to secure his second title in a row. The 16-year crossed the finish line after the second day with a total time of 6 hours 30 minutes and 37 seconds. De Lange had covered the first 70 km on the first day in 3:20:35, while clocking in at 3:10:02 during the final 70 km’s on the second day. The second place went to Kia Namibia’s rider Martin Freyer with a total time of 6:34:07. His team compatriot Michael Pretorius had to settle for fourth as he was beaten to the third place by young Herbert Peters. Costa Raul Seibeb, primed as one of the hot favourites before the race began, bowed out of the race due to a crash on the second day of action. Meanwhile, Irene Steyn presented herself in top shape in the women’s division once again. The member of the Namibian cycling team that will travel to the Commonwealth Games later this year clinched the first place with a time of 8:53:32. Second-placed Michelle Vorster needed nearly a quarter of an hour more (9:19:43) to cross the finish line after the gruelling 140 km. The master men’s category, also stretching over the full marathon distance, was won by a dominating Piet Swiegers, clocking in at 7:29:17, with Fanie Steenkamp in second (8:53:32) and Hans du Toit in third (8:04:25). Lee-Anne Palmhert emerged victories in the master women’s category with a time of 9:49:59. Caroline Janik made second place in 12:07:38 ahead of Anneke Steenkamp.