Big Induna Mi-Way Half Marathon

This last weekend the entire Mr Price/Scott team made the trip up to Hazyview from their various locations to compete in the Induna Half-Marathon which was one of the marathons in the National Series. This years ruling only allowed juniors to compete in the shorter distance (45kms), so it meant a long trip for a short race, but nevertheless I was excited. We arrived on Thursday night after a long day of driving and slept well. On Friday we checked out certain parts of the course and went over the river crossings. The race start/finish area was at Induna Adventures, and there was an interesting mix of forestry roads, banana plantations and thick singletrack forests.

Then it was race day. With Caitlin de Wet, Arno du Toit and myself all present on the front row, we looked the team to beat. This was my first marathon this year, and I was keen to give it a bash. The first tar section was too slow for my liking, so I put down a half hearted attack to split things up before the big climb. Then into the 2,1km climb only after a 3 min warm up. I sat on the front tapping out a tempo for Arno, teammate and series leader. We shed the pack quickly and towards the top section of the climb there were only five of us left. I opened up a gap to Arno and another competitor who was sticking with him and continued to push hard up and over the higher slopes. Then I had about a 30s gap and decided that this was my race as I was feeling super strong.

I went flat out for the first section of the race and as there was no immediate pressure, I flew into some single track pieces and really flowed. Then the race was almost over, I started to really enjoy myself and started catching some of the 75km participants who had started an hour before us. I hit the finishing 8kms which came past where we were staying and rode it time trial style till the finish.

Official Results

MiWay 45km Half-marathon

Men
1 James Reid (Mr Price SCOTT)1:41:00
2 Arno du Toit (Mr Price SCOTT) 1:45:19

Women
1 Caitlin de Wet (Mr Price SCOTT)

Well done to Caitlin for wrapping up the womens race in fine style. After the race I went with a few friends on the 75km course, and what a route! We got horribly lost and ended up spending another 2 hours on the bike, but it was awesome fun!

Till next time,

Bit of Classic Racing

Well these last two weeks have been frustrating at times, but also very good for training. As I've only recently started on a training programme (3 weeks ago), I've been arriving at races feeling more tired than usual, to use the race as part of training for the bigger events. Two weeks ago I competed in the Mtunzini Super Classic, a 55km race up near Richards Bay area. On the menu was roughly 55kms of mostly sugar cane, forestry road and flat fast sections. The race was very much a roadies race minus a few technical sections. All were present and accounted for, except Craig Paul and Andrew Hill, with Craig suffering from a training accident which we all hope he recovers from, and Andrew down with flu.

Out of the starting gates and up the first hill, it was David Leiman (Fullimput) who put the hammer down and gave us a little glimpse of what was to come. That was countered by Brendon Davids (Jeep) and I but it was waaay to early on. We all entered the first single track piece with about a bunch of 12 and it was clear that the racing was going to be a whole lot of fun. After 5kms of flat cane roads, we hit the first real climb and David attacked again like a man possessed. He strung the field out and again Brendon and I were chasing him down. We came out at the top and David had a good gap with four of us chasing. It was Brendon and I, Shan Wilson and Shaun Peschl. The group was not very co-operative as everyone was thinking about the length of the race. Brendon and I did the lion's share of the pulling and it bore fruit as we almost caught David at the 20km mark. Shaun Peschl then very cleverly jumped the gap and provided David with the horsepower he needed to carry on. Unfortunately Brendon and I were left to chase as Shan Wilson, a very well know roadie who won the Masters section this year at the Cape Epic, was very unco-operative. 

Towards the 10km to go mark I sensed the other two were tired and so I went for it up a short incline and got the gap which I maintained to the finish, finishing just under a minute behind the two in front. I was happy with the result. Well done to Brendon who managed a good 5th with a few mechanical incidents. 

Howick Super Classic

Then this last weekend I competed in the Howick Super Classic, a local race which was pretty much all single track through the recently burnt forests. Everybody seemed either sick or scared off by the weather or else racing the Dusi Mfula, a stage race being held on the same day. Nevertheless, I was up for a good two hours of racing. Through the neutral zone and away through the first climb I attacked and again it was Brendon Davids who followed with Travis Walker (an ex-teammate and now racing for DCM Chrome) just behind. I led for 10 kms and then was caught by both of them in one of the many, many technical sections as I was not riding comfortably. It became clear that it would become a three way battle between the youngsters. I lost my water bottle in an early tumble and this would cost me slightly in the end. Throughout the middle of the race it was a ping pong match between us three with each of us taking turns trying to get away. 

Then disaster struck for Brendon Davids (Jeep) as he punctured exactly when Travis and I decided to put the hammer down harder. He soon fell out of sight and then it was just two of us left fighting for it. Into the mist and rain we raced, higher and faster, the two ex-teammates trying to edge each other out for the win. At the main climb of the day Travis drove the pace, but I was going nowhere and attacked near the top. I desperately wanted to win and at 10kms to go I was flying trying to get away. Travis was not letting me me out of his sights and we raced closer and closer to the end. Then disaster stuck me, and while cornering on wet tar I felt the front wheel slide and caught a glimpse of Travis ducking into the final single track section to take the win. I picked myself up with a few sore roasties and came into the finish second, just over 30 seconds behind Travis. Disappointed to not get the win, but happy with the way I rode. 

I'm building up for African Champs, so these next few weeks should be fun. The Induna Marathon Series is this weekend so we'll see how that goes. Till then,

Ciao