Blood, sweat and tears in Zini

ALTHOUGH the number of finishers was dramatically down on last year’s Zini River Estate Buffalo Classic, the riders were up to the challenge, finishing the race in comparable times to last year.

The 25km and 50km class finishers were on average down by 60 riders.

In the 25km, Rupert Searle finished in 01:07:38, which was a minute quicker than last year’s exciting photo finish between Benjamin Owen and Nicolas Westman – who finished in 01:06:40 and 01:06:41 respectively.

In the 50km event it was a dice for the finish as the top three riders finished within three seconds of each other.

Sean Merredew was out to prove a point and took advantage of the good riding conditions and was pushed by the competition before crossing the line first in 02:00:56

Joshua Nelson finished second one second off the pace, with Warren Richards two seconds behind.

Merredew’s time was seven minutes quicker than last year’s time of 02:07:45 set by Bradley Stroberg.

The Zini Classic was the first of the Bell Big 5 Series and offered the riders all the diversity offered by the region, with plenty of single track riding.

The next race in the series is on Sunday, 7 June – the Richards Bay Elephant, which will offer an all new experience as this will be the first Big 5 race in the Bay.

Results

10km

Males

U11

1 Evan Moolman (00:27:51); 2 Brett Drummond; 3 Thembinkosi Dlamini

U13

1 Warren Moolman (00:26:02); 2 Emrick Bornman; 3 Marco Prinsloo

Females

U11

1 Grace Engelbrecht (00:32:41); 2 Paige Vorster; 3 Carla Janse van Rensburg

U13

1 Saige Chittenden (00:30:09); 2 Samantha Dreyer; 3 Wyllona Paxton

25km

Males

Overall

1 Rupert Searle (01:07:38); 2 Pieter Cloete; 3 Oliver Sclanders

Senior

1 Rupert Searle (01:07:38); 2 Pieter Cloete; 3 Sakhile Mthembu

Sub-vet

1 Samuel Erasmus (01:10:31); 2 Mel Fick; 3 Andrew Hodson

Vet

1 Oliver Sclanders (01:08:52); 2 Rohan van der Westhuizen; 3 Wynand van der Walt

Master

1 Mason Harrison (01:09:56); 2 Kobus Botha; 3 Ian Loretz

Grand master

1 Patrick Poole (01:21:03); 2 Norman Lundt; 3 Paul Mannix

Junior

1 Matthew Makrinos (01:10:32); 2 Brian Sclanders; 3 Brandon Storey

U16

1 Devon Baird (01:11:14); 2 Denell Goosen; 3 Callum Osborne

Females

Overall

1 Chloe Bateson (01:13:02); 2 Liezl Richards; 3 Megan Harrison

Senior

1 Megan Harrison (01:23:50); 2 Stacey Pretorius; 3 Natalie Sykes

Sub-vet

1 Liezl Richards (01:14:47); 2 Corine Howard; 3 Victoria Erasmus

Vet

1 Lara Bateson (01:34:17); 2 Wilma Paxton; 3 Joanne Chittenden

Master

1 Cheryl Flowers (01:33:36); 2 Lucille Pienaar; 3 Aletta Coetsee

Grand master

1 Rieth Marais (01:38:30); 2 Rosemarie van der Merwe; 3 Lorna Rautenbach

Junior

1 Georgia Gutteridge (01:28:53); 2 Lindie van Rooyen

U16

1 Chloe Bateson (01:13:02); 2 René de Beer; 3 Erin Ivins

50km

Male

Overall

1 Sean Merredew (02:00:56); 2 Joshua Nelson; 3 Warren Richards

Senior

1 Nicolas Westman (02:01:49); 2 Werner van Heerden; 3 Sam Hancock

Sub-vet

1 Sean Merredew (02:00:56); 2 Gideon Bruckner; 3 Jason Davies

Vet

1 Warren Richards (02:00:59); 2 Dirk Barnard; 3 Jasper van Vessem

Master

1 Russell White (02:12:39); 2 Brian Osborne; 3 Paul Holt

Grand master

1 Chris Davel (02:32:54); 2 Robin Thorpe; 3 Koos Jordaan

Junior

1 Joshua Nelson (02:00:57)

Female

Overall

1 Desiree Verwey (02:13:08); 2 Isabel Moolman; 3 Amy Burger

Senior

1 Amy Burger (02:35:13); 2 Telaine Grobler

Sub-vet

1 Desiree Verwey (02:13:08); 2 Candice Farland; 3 Claire Balmer

Vet

1 Isabel Moolman (02:33:05); 2 Lize Swanepoel; 3 Ronell Keeve

Master

1 Marion Sykes (02:59:34); 2 Elizabeth Clark; 3 Victoria Basson.

FULL GALLERY HERE