Xterra Shongweni 2006

From Xlbracing

Clearly, I need to still do some serious work on my swim coming out 7 minutes behind the leaders cut my work out for me on the bike leg. Chasing hard, I managed to climb to 9th place, but it was to be short lived. Toward the end of the first lap of the 2 loop course, I double flatted! Dejavu (sp!??) last year in Richards bay, i had exactly the same problem. So, I rode into the transition zone where athletes are allowed assistance so that i could get a second tube and pump. Eventually, I got back on the bike and got back up to 8th by the end of the leg.

The run course was the best I have experienced at an Xterra event anywhere, it was gnarly and included a 700m section in a tunnel and numerous climbs and technical trails. Naaaaais!

Mudman series

To all of my loyal supporters: THANKS FOR WAITING !

Everytime I get reports from my website hit counter i feel bad - people are visiting my site but it never gets updated .... well here is some news - at last!



I won the Aquelle Mudman offroad triathlon series. The series consisted of 4 events held over the first few months of the year. I was doing them in order to condition and train for the Xterra series but they ended up giving me more exposure than the Xterra! Thanks to all of the organisers and people who made the series happen.

Cheers for the next 6 months ! :)

Xterra Witklip

Rain once again greeted us for the 3rd leg of the SA Xterra series.

Result: 2nd overall

Witklip dam is really scenic, unfortunately the organisers changed the bike course at the last minute saying that it was "too muddy" for the competitors !!?? This definitely weighed against the people with better technical skills - the new course was just open fire roads with the occasional slippery patch.

The swim put me 4 min off the leader and I only managed to bike into second place, 1min 30s behind. Pure speed was the order of the day for the run leg. Nothing challenging or interesting at all for the atletes, it was basically a road run.

Well, I am really looking forward to the final event at Grabouw. Hopefully the organisers use some of the awesome terrain and singletrack in the course like they did last year!

Mudman Offroad Triathlon

Stealing the Biscuit !

1st Overall

Its all coming together - coming out of the water in 6th position, I managed to catch everyone mid way through the 20km bike course. This allowed me to relax (!??) for the rest of the race and put about 5 min into Anton Storm who had JP van der Linde hot on his heels.

Hermansberg school put on an amazing display of hospitality with loads of german "kuchen", "bratwurst" and even an OOOOOOMPAH band to entertain the spectators.

Xterra Gariep

2nd Overall

Hi guys, my season got off to a respectable start. Terrible weather greeted us on the start line at Gariep Dam in the freestate. Orgainisers were forced to postpone the event when all of the branding and course markings were "moved" or destroyed by the worst hailstorm in the area since 1988.

The swim leg was only 1km long so not too much damage was incurred and I came out the water a few minutes off the leader, Liewe Boonstra. Today's bike course was flat and untechnical with a couple of portages, no singletrack to speak of either but it was tough enough for me to catch up to within 5 seconds of Liewe.

A 2 - lap rocky run challenged everyone's tired legs - unfortunately Boonstra was too fast today but he had better watch out!

Xterra World Champs - Maui, Hawaii

ALOHA !


This island rocks!

I came 23rd out of about 500 athletes, here are the official results.

It was epic. Went surfing on Hookipa beach after the race and got MUNCHED by some f for big waves, you know you had fun when salt water is still coming out your nose hours later! Cameron, the chap who took me surfing snapped his leash so he decided to bodysurf... catching barrels off the 8 footers. MMM, eez nice!

Maui has beautiful beaches... check it ouwit.

It was great seeing other Saffers venturing out to the World Champs, Pieta Swanepoel and Russel White came over to test the waters. Dit was maar lekker om saam kak te praat. We are having an Xterra series starting in RSA soon so watch the press for details. Evidently there will be 4 events spead over the country with the final in Grabrouw in the Cape in late March.

I have some friends selling bikes here, check out http://www.racemachines.blogspot.com/ or click here. Please feel free to contact me for details on exelby@gmail.com with questions.

Xterra National Champs

Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Yes, Xterra is a contact sport!!

For full race results, check here
Water condition: 13 degrees celcius and choppy!
Mtb course: Climbing and fun singletrack
Run course: Weaving trail with lots of stream crossings

That's Lake Tahoe in the background - the water visibility was amazing - during the swim you could see the anchors for the course marking buoys way down below below on the sand. I even collected 4 golf balls off the sand floor a couple of days before the race - clearly there are some frustrating holes on the nearby golf course!!

I am currently in Bend,OR getting ready for the Xterra World Champs (Maui,Hawaii). The snow has started to fall here but the training has gone pretty well. Conrad and i have been renovating his Condo and doing some quality training, Bend is an awesome training ground - there is a bit of everything for the outdoor enthusiast... including whitewater kayaking. Now i feel ready for showdown, bring on the warm water of Hawaii !
Cheers, R