It was the last stage of an event that has, in every respect, been an unmitigated success, and if you ask all those who took part – in any capacity – about the experience, you are guaranteed thumbs-up and a wide smile.

Fienie Barnard and Esther Lategan (Landmark), who had the Women's category sewn up, were out for an impressive 6hr10min17sec on Saturday and looked cool and unrushed at the finish in spite of the heat and humidity.

Eric Kleinhans and Johnny Kritzinger of Memory Foundation – New Heights controlled the six-stage race from the start and established a comfortable enough lead in the early stages to be secure, at the end, in the General Classification. On Stage 6, they were third, to TREAD Magazine's Roan Exelby and Donovan Jackson, in an uncontested finish, after the overseas Specialized-Songo wizards, early on, had disappeared over the horizon. The TREAD boys (Exelby is an established front runner in the sport but Jackson, with a road background, is the impressive new kid on the block) were second on GC too, beating the dependable Squirt team.

Squirt had a horrendous but heroic final stage when Lieb Loots' rear derailleur went walkabout and when the single-speed option also failed after his freewheel mechanism followed suit. The 53-year-old phenomenon later described the towing, for much of the stage, by his much younger partner, Cornellius Muller, as something out of ‘Braveheart’, and they still managed to secure third place in the General Classification, with Sauser and Behan fourth after yesterday's explosion from the bottom of the magnificent but terribly demanding Montagu Pass.

As the climb began Behan suddenly made a break while Sauser kept on cruising. Before the pass, TREAD had attacked trying to weaken Kritizinger who was seen to be a little under the weather after he and Kleinhans had taken the previous day's stage. The top teams were caught unawares and, when Sauser went across to his teammate near the top. They were “toast” and declared a truce, coming in 13 minutes after the Specialized boys. Sauser and Behan added a gold star to an event that will be a vital part in the future of mountain biking in South Africa. Apply whatever superlatives you can to the terms ‘exciting and challenging’ and then bow to the impeccable organisation by, surely, the nicest people in the game.

The Mixed category, which has been breathtakingly competitive and see-sawing through all six stages, ended on a knife edge with the Schwinn Team of Petrus Malherbe and Janneke Leask taking the GC by eight seconds, after locals Peter and Ischen Stopforth (Marsillio Projects) put ten minutes into them to take the final stage.

The peerless Sludge Masters, Brian Strauss and Linus van Onselen were consistently inspiring – age, it seems, is an illusion – and that they have always been ahead of Veteran winners Gus Klohn and Marc Wiedekehr of Infradev Dunkeld Cycles is just the misfortune of the ‘younger’ competition in all the results, stages and GC.

As expected, the Women's Category was sewn up by the Landmark girls, Fienie Barnard and Esther Lategan.

Saturday's route, although shorter than the others was tough and technical but ride-able, and to those who still ‘had legs’, most enjoyable. One of the last finishers to come in was riding with his broken arm in a sling – it was that important to get his medal in what is, surely, a turning-point event in South African mountain bike stage racing.

The whole experience was run with military precision and the best civilian care and enthusiasm. It has been a triumph.








For more information and detailed results, visit http://www.capepioneer.co.za/

Photo credits: KARIN SCHERMBRUCKER / SLINGSHOT MEDIA

Source: Cape Pioneer Trek