National XCO Pietermaritzburg

24/6/2017

Hi Team,

After the successful National Marathon in Champaign valley we headed to Pietermaritzburg to do the SA cup XCO. I had the privilege to do the Enduro race on Friday before the race with the PYGA family. Thank you Patrick, Hilton, Matt, Cam and Keira for the great chats and laughs.

Below some words from Philip and Kombo.

Philip Buys - 2nd overall

I was looking forward to some cross country racing again and the intensity would surely add the edge for my Marathon Worlds pep.

My start was all good until we went through “Rapid Rocks”, the first obstacle only about 300m into the race, where I just got a bit over eager and overcooked it and went slightly off my usual line. I could hear and feel both my wheels bash through on a sharp rock and unfortunately my back wheel started deflating.

Sitting in second spot, I tried to nurse the bit of air I had in the back wheel to the tech zone, but I soon found myself riding on the rim and running some sections. By the time I got to Ruan in the tech zone to change the wheel, I was almost dead last.

It was disappointing to get the puncture, but it was all because of error on my side and the only thing that got me motivated to race hard again was that I did not do much hard training during the week and I wanted to have a solid race simulation session, so I navigated all the traffic and settled in a good rhythm by lap 3 and raced back into 2nd spot on the day.

The bike was amazing on this tight and fun cross country course and I could fully recover on the downhills and keep a solid pace all the way.

This Tuesday night, Andre and I will travel to Zurich to race World Marathon Champs on Sunday In Singen, Germany.

Hope everyone has a great week ahead and can also work in some riding during office hours ;)

Cheers!

Kombo Bere - 13th overall

Raced the final and forth SA cup this past weekend with an impressive result. The weekend before the race we had a provincial xco race also at cascades, just a slightly different course. This meant I had some time to work on the course and do some technical training seeing as it was on home grounds.

Race started of well and thanks to Ruan was able to more or less pace myself with the helpful information of positioning he was providing me with. Very happy to come away with a 13th position overall and 5th under 23 highest finish at SA cup level.

Looking forward to the second half of the season and also bridging into the marathon side of race. Coach really empressed with the training I've been pulling of and also very keen to reach new heights in the future.

Thanks guys have a blessed week