Ideal cool racing conditions greeted the field of a hundred multisport individuals at 5am in Pietermaritzburg for the start of the 100km challenge. The Change A Life squad set an unbelievable pace over the 20km trail run with Hugo arriving at the first transition in Camperdown amidst the lead group. Onto the testing 52km mountain bike leg Hugo set his wheels in motion to open a significant lead, despite several mechanical setbacks. Once on the water, there was no looking back as the lean Stellenbosch multisport pro reveled in his glory to clock a superb five hours, seventeen minutes and 52 seconds. Zondi was all smiles as he took a deserved second place ten minutes back. This is a fantastic achievement for the Change A Life squad who were only introduced to mountain biking earlier this year. Van Aardenne, no stranger to the rigours of Triple Challenge, was a worthy third place finisher.
Pre-race favourite Jean Hackland took control of the women’s race during the bike leg and paddled home to a sweet victory in six hours, twenty-five minutes and 49sec. Veteran Jenny Reynolds completed a successful race in second place ahead of Jenny du Pisanie.
RESULTS – Multisport. Men overall: D Hugo (dghugo.com) 5h17.52, E Zondi (Change A Life) 5h27.49, C van Aardenne (Jeep) 5h30.33, C Carter-Brown 5h33.46, N Cele (Change A Life) 5h41.40 / K Mhlope (Change A Life) 5h41.42.
Women overall: J Hackland (Jeep) 6h25.49, J Reynolds 6h51.22, J du Pisanie 7h06.40.
It was all action in the MultiX event – Cape Town’s Raoul de Jongh proved unstoppable after a moment of panic in the second transition nearly cost him his victory. Aggressive racing amongst the men saw Bertus van Zyl place second ahead of Justin Porteous. Kerry Koen was queen of the women’s race arriving home in a time of four hours, forty-five minutes and 32 sec. The Scott sisters; Kirsty and Sarah, completed the women’s podium.
MultiX, Men Overall: R de Jongh 4h06.07, B van Zyl (Jeep) 4h08.06, J Porteous (Jeep) 4h09.02, D van Gelder 4h15.27, C da Costa 4h20.33.
Women overall: K Koen 4h45.32, K Scott 4h53.39, S Scott 5h01.22.
With over 60% of the 500 strong field being made up of team combinations, there was some intense racing amongst the racing combinations while for many it was a team building challenge. Fastest time of the day went to Mr Price’s Prodigal Khumalo, James Reid and Nic Stubbs in a time of four hours, fifty minutes and 5sec. However, the ladies combination of Tracy Zunckel, Eszter Erdelyi Cluer and Michelle Eder recorded a fast five hours, thirty-one minutes and 33sec and the mixed title was won by New Balance team of Justin Hand, Andrew Warr and Donna Winter in 5h04.47.
Well done to everybody who took part - we hope that you enjoyed the event. Please send all feedback to bex@maxcluer.com
