Events

Croeser, Kleinhans master the mud to claim Ballito MTB titles

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South African Rourke Croeser and Swiss Ariane Kleinhans conquered strong competition and atrocious conditions to claim victories in the men and women’s races respectively at Round 5 of the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series at Ballito on South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal coast at the weekend.

It was Croeser’s first Ultra-marathon victory and it came in his home province. It also came at a time when he was in need of a confidence boost, following a disappointing South African Cross-country championships where he finished fifth a week earlier, unable to defend the title he won in 2014.

Croeser, who races for the Italian-based team, Full Dynamix, showed his intentions from the outset on the 105km course by charging off the start line straight into the lead. Three days of relentless rain had left conditions extremely wet and muddy, atrocious actually, even by mountain biking standards. But Croeser surged ahead regardless, forcing his rivals to weigh up whether to chase him hard early on or wait to see if he’d fade.

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A smiling Rourke Croeser after winning Ashburton Investments.

But he never did fade. Instead, Croeser steadily built his lead to more than 10 minutes over his nearest rival when he crossed the finish line in a time of 4 hours 46 minutes 50 seconds. Swiss rider, Konny Looser (Wheeler), finished second in 4:57:42 with Darren Lill rounding out the podium in 4:59:52. They were the only riders to break five hours on a course what was considered ‘tame’ but clearly made more challenging by the wet weather.

“I planned to go hard from the start. But I didn’t expect to be on my own!” smiled a satisfied Croeser afterwards.

“I know that I can ride at 175 beats per minute heart rate for five hours, so that’s what I set out to do. I managed to keep my heart rate at that average for almost the whole race. Just the last five kays I started to struggle a bit, but I had a good lead so it worked out well in the end,” added Croeser.

“Regarding the conditions, if you have a negative attitude towards them it doesn’t help. I enjoy it. I really like riding in the mud. That’s why I’m a mountain biker!

Looser’s runner-up place ensured that he extended his lead in the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series. He hasn’t finished outside the top five in all five events this year, showing impressive consistency, but is yet to claim a victory.

In the women’s race, Kleinhans and her RECM teammate, Cherise Stander, were the aggressors, setting a quick pace from the start that was only matched by South African champion, Robyn de Groot (Ascendis Health). After the Queen of the Mountain prime at 20km, Kleinhans and Stander moved clear of De Groot and set about working together to build a lead on their rival.

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Ariane Kleinhans conquering the weather winning Ashburton Investments.

But De Groot managed to reel the RECM pair back in after Stander crashed, disrupting their rhythm. They were able to drop De Groot again, but on a long climb around 15km from the finish, Stander wasn’t able to stay with Kleinhans and began to drop back. Kleinhans held onto her lead to cross the finish line in a time of 3:45:34 for the 75km race.

De Groot caught and passed Stander to clock a time of 3:49:02 for the runner-up place, with Stander finishing in third in 3:53:40. This was the third victory for Kleinhans in the 2015 Series and she takes a narrow lead in the women’s Ashburton Investments National MTB Series standings over De Groot with two events remaining. The best four results from the seven event-series will count towards the final rankings.

“There aren’t any big mountains here, but there was really bad weather. That made the race tough. It was wet and windy and we really had to work hard,” explained Kleinhans.

2015 Ashburton Investments National Marathon Series

Round 5, Ballito, Sunday 26 January 2015

Leading results

Elite men – 105km Ultra-marathon:

1 Rourke Croeser (RSA) Full Dynamix 4:46:50

2 Konny Looser (SUI) Wheeler 4:57:42

3 Darren Lill (RSA) 4:59:52

4 Max Knox (RSA) Biogen-Volcan 5:04:00

5 Nico Bell (RSA) RECM 5:05:50

6 Adriaan Louw (RSA) Contego Swift 5:10:51

7 Hendrik Kruger (RSA) Abantu 5:11:09

8 Erik Kleinhans (RSA) 5:14:05

9 Dave Lees (RSA) 5:16:37

10 Matthew Beers (RSA) Red-E 5:17:52

Elite women – 75km marathon:

1 Ariane Kleinhans (SUI) RECM 3:45:34

2 Robyn de Groot (RSA) Ascendis Health 3:49:02

3 Cherise Stander (RSA) RECM 3:53:40

4 Candice Neethling (RSA) Freewheel Cycology/Pam Golding 3:54:41

5 Vera Adrian (NAM) BestMed ASG 3:59:56

6 Amy McDougall (RSA) 4:03:37

7 Vanessa Bell (RSA) 4:22:57

8 Nicola Giliomee (RSA) 5:01:04

9 Michelle Beetge (RSA) 5:05:06

10 Heila Meintjes (RSA) 5:10:11

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