Potchefstroom Gimnasium showed their steel logging 199 points at the second North West race of the 2016 Spur Schools MTB League, which was hosted at Hartebeespoort High School.
Junior Men Top 2 – Pieter du Toit (yellow) and Brandon Van der Berg.
Rustenburg High School is currently lying second on the log with 140 points, followed by Hartebeespoort High School in third with 121 points. Westvalia High School and Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom are in a close fourth and fith with 88 and 86 points respectively.
North West province does not have the largest numbers, yet they deliver the strongest riders and are currently the national defending provincial champions. They also boast the South African XCO Youth Men’s and Junior Women’s Champion – Ryan Conradie of Potchefstroom Gymnasium and Kristen Louw of Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom.
Junior Women top 2 – Danille Strydom and Kristen Louw.
Spur Tour de Dam drew in 176 riders for the day. The course was only 3km resulting in an extra lap for all categories – a tough day of racing on challenging route with long drags and some loose rocky and sandy corners.
The sub junior boy’s category got underway with riders having to complete 4 laps. John-William Lang of Rustenburg HS broke away in the first lap with a 40 second lead over his teammates to win in a time of 00:48:38. Theo van Zijl and Hanro Vermeulen finished second and third in 00:51:08 and 00:52:24 respectively.
Jone van Eeden from Potchefstroom Gimnasium extended her overall series lead in the sub junior girls’ category by speeding through the two laps to win in 00:24:19. Ilke Botes of Transvalia High School came in second in a time of 00:25:10 with Natasha Roets of Potchefstroom Gymnasium in third in a time of 00:29:03.
Junior Boys Podium.
The youth boys’ racing was fierce! A total of 5 laps awaited the riders and from the whistle a battle was on amongst the three-man breakaway consisting of Ryan Conradie (Potchefstroom Gymnasium), Brendan Van Eeden (Potchefstroom Gymnasium) and Stehan Wolmarans (Hartebeespoort HS). Stehan got dropped on the second lap and Ryan launched an attack, which Brendan could not match to take the win and increase his overall series lead.
Sub Junior Girls podium.
In the youth girls Andrea De Waal from Potchefstroom Girls High went hard in the start sprint securing her front position before they entered the single track. On her wheel was Kaylin Prinsloo from Hartebeespoort HS, but not for long as Andrea dropped back giving Kaylin the opportunity to break away and take the win as well as the leader jersey.
Sub Junior boys podium.
An exciting battle in the junior men’s race saw two Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom riders, Pieter Du Toit and Brandon Van der Berg, break away in the first lap. After taking a strong lead, Pieter was hit with a mechanical problem causing him to drop back 10 positions before fighting his way back to overall fourth. Brandon Van der Berg took the win with Chad Fikkert from Midstream College (Gauteng guest rider) in third.
The junior women’s race came down to a sprint between Danielle Strydom of Potchefstroom Gymnasium and Kristen Louw of Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom riding neck on neck, with Danielle just proving to be too strong in the final sprint.
North West Leaders.
North West Leaders
- Sub Junior Boys – JOHN-WILLIAM LANG – Rustenburg HS
- Sub Junior Girls – JONE VAN EEDEN – Potchefstroom Gymnasium
- Youth Boys – Ryan Conradie – Potchefstroom Gymnasium
- Youth Girls – Kaylin Prinsloo – Hartebeespoort HS
- Junior Men – Pieter Du Toit- Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom
- Junior Women – Danielle Strydom – Potchefstroom Gymnasium
The third race in the North West leg of the 2016 Spur Schools Mountain Bike League will take place on 13 August at the Klerksdorp Show Grounds. For registration queries contact Joanita van Staden at admin@mtbza.co.za.
Keep updated on the league on www.spurmtbleague.co.za and also follow the league on face book at SpurSchoolsLeague, twitter #spurMTBleague and @spurMTBleague.
Eight years into the Spur High Schools Mountain Bike League organisers are anticipating that more than 500 Southern African schools will be represented in the 2016 season, which will culminate in the season-ending National Final in Magaliesburg in October.
