YES, ITS KICKING !
This weekend saw the biggest field yet decend upon the little western cape village of Grabouw. Nearly 600 athletes came to flex their muscles and strut their stuff at the final of the SA Xterra series - proof that we certainly have the interest and talent in our country to become a dominant force internationally in this exciting sport!
Note to self: " don't follow someone who is going in the wrong direction" !! The swim was an abortion for me, I decided to "cleverly" follow someone's feet and ended up in the middle of the dam. As Homer Simpson would say... "Dawup!" Anyways, that put me 6 minutes back at the end of the swim - the bike was always going to be tough but this made it even harder!
2007 saw the mtb course designer getting a bit soft - it definitely was not on a par with the previous years' courses but still remains one of the tougher mtb courses on the circuit. (buffelspoort takes the prize) I had a good ride managing to catch back to 3rd overall by the end of the first (+-24km) lap roughly 3 min clear of Anton and Kent in 4th and 5th. On the second 9km loop there was confusion with the marking and lots of athletes unintentionally cut the course. So Anton and Kent appeared on my heels heading out onto the run. JP van der Linde went from 9th to 14th position on the second bike loop without anyone overtaking him... go figure! Its unfortunate but kak happens. Hopefully they up the standard of marking for next year.
The run course was the same as last year and included a river crossing, fire road and a very short section of single track. Iain Don-Wauchope put in the fastest individual run split with an impressive 43:40 for the 12km track. Kent also clubbed it leaving Exelby cramping for death licking his wounds to round off the top 5 !
Well done to all the athletes who gave it stick out there on Saturday - it was great seeing so many people getting out there having fun in the Kaap. See you at next year's event - hope you got to sample some of the cape's finest produce whilst you were there!
Cheers, R
