Riders, runners pull together

ADVENTURE sport enthusiasts came together in the spirit of giving at the fourth annual Down to Earth charity race held this past weekend.

More than 100 avid mountain bikers and trail runners came together to compete while raising funds for Trystin Stevens, who was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year.

Held at the Hopewell Conservation Estate nature reserve in Port Elizabeth, the race, organised by Round Table PE West 142, took competitors along a number of distanced routes in both the mountain biking and trail running sections.

In the women’s 35km MTB section, Stella Muller crossed the finish line in a time of two hours, 16 minutes and 40 seconds, with Sanja Steyn coming in second in 3:05.00.

On the men’s side, Jason Meaton blew away the competition to win in 1:25.33. Next home was Ian Moore, who finished in 1:37.11 ahead of Rehad Zeelie (1:38.00).

In the 11km trail run, Leigh Callaghan (57.15) finished ahead of Lindie Steyn (59.58) and Lorna Lumb (1:06.42).

In the men’s draw, Sean Knight finished first in a time of 52.31, second place went to Ronald Reeves (53.28) and Eben Van Jaarsveld (54.14) came third.

The top three women in the 5km trail run were Marietjie Rootman (39.11), Elana Pieterse (39.22) and Emily Marais (39.38).

The top three men were Deon Carelsen (39.11), Dave Farren (42.42) and James van Deventer (49.28).

In the 11km MTB race, Lindre van den Berg (57.18), Janina Taljaard (1:21.36) and Helen Potgieter (1:21.50) were the leading women, and Leon Steynberg (43.08) Noel Snyman (49.30) and Tiaan Minnaar (57.51) the top men.

The 20km MTB race saw Jeanette Schoeman, the only entrant in the category, take home the title in a time of 1:39.56, while Andre Schoeman (1:02.48), Shudley Botha (1:12.45) and Jeanre Oelofse (1:13.38) were placed on the men’s podium.

Race director Ernst Pretorius said despite the low turnout compared to last year, they were still happy, considering the event was organised internally for the first time.