The race season started with a bang at my event, the Avis
Van Rental Paarl Downhill Challenge!
This is the event’s 4th year and things have
picked up dramatically. There were 87 riders who attended the event and
included current Junior SA champ, Tiaan Odendaal, current elite SA champ,
Hayden Brown and fellow KZN rider, Dave Dinkelman. Also present were top riders
such as Andrew Neethling (world #17), multi time national champion, Johann Potgieter and young gun, Adi Vd Merwe.
The field was extremely strong and we were in for a good
weekends racing. On Saturday I managed to get in 6 runs of practice after all
the setting up was complete and I was feeling good on the track. My trainer
John Wakefield really has me in good shape this season and I was ready for Sunday!
We started off early at 07:00 so we were able to get all the
equipment set up for the days racing. At 09:00 I managed to squeeze in 4 runs
on the course and had a small crash but still felt good and wanted to get
things wrapped up J
I have to admit I was feeling some nerves as it was the first race of the
season and I was running things too which always makes it tough!
Anyway it was time for seeding/qualification runs and I was
on track. My run was good, fairly smooth with one mistake but overall I was
happy and I ended seeding in 2nd spot with a time of 1:45. Johann
Potgieter was in the lead with a 1:45 too as there were no splits due to a
timing error.
I got some rest and food in before heading up for the race
runs. Finally it was my turn and I was determined to put in a good run! I set
off at the top and focused on being smooth and flowing as it was very windy
which made it tough to pick up speed after braking. After attacking the course
in the middle section I decided to back off slightly near the end as I did not
want to throw it away at that point. However when I saw all the fans on course
I had to push for the win and I came into the finish and heard that I had
rolled into 2nd spot with a time of 1:44:40. Andrew Neethling was in
the lead with a time of 1:43:98 and just after that Johann Potgieter rolled in
with a 1:45:34 which put him into 3rd spot.
I am really happy with the weekend and it’s great to have a
good start to the year! The Mongoose has performed really well in the short
time I’ve been on it but I can’t wait to sit on my new, lighter Morewood Makulu
in a few weeks! Yes that right, I will be riding a Morewood this year which is
amazing as I have always loved the brand and look forward to taking it to the
top!
I would like to give
a huge thanks to INVESTEC for supporting me this year and giving me the
opportunity to live my dream and compete all over the globe J
Also a huge thanks to
Morewood, Seattle Coffee Co , Red Bull ZA, Spank, Leatt protectives, Csixx
products, Adidas eyewear, Bell helmets, Virgin Active and Science 2 Sport
for supporting me in 2013! Without all of these great companies this would not
be possible!
This coming weekend is the first SA national round of 2013 at
Jonkershoek so I will be sure to keep you all posted.
Until next time…
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