More of the same for 2018
HOWICK professional mountain biker Stuart Marais will be the target at the opening leg of the 2018 KZN MTB Lap Challenge at Shongweni tomorrow as he looks to continue where he left off in the 2017 series.
Marais, in his first year as a fulltime professional mountain biker, was the rider to beat in KZN events in 2017 with a perfect record of three wins from three in the KZN XCO Challenge (the predecessor of the Lap Challenge) as well as a win in the KZN Championships.
And it was not only in the Olympic discipline of lap racing that Marais dominated: He also won the Quattro ROAG Series with a perfect score of six wins in the marathon-style racing.
He will be hoping to control the racing at Shongweni and after a strong start to his 2018 season it will be no surprise if he succeeds.
He was 11th overall at the SA XCO Cup in Stellenbosch earlier this month in an event which featured an incredibly strong international field that contained World Champion Nino Schurter and other top ranked international riders. And last week the unsponsored rider was able to secure a comfortable victory in the seven-day, 614km Transcape race from Knysna to Franschoek.
“I have had a good start to my 2018 season – better than the start to last year in fact,” said Marais.
“I am not sure who else will be racing at the weekend, but would expect Henry Liebenberg, Julian Jessop or Sthembiso Masango to be my biggest challengers.
“My main goal is the World Cup event in Stellenbosch next month, so this is part of my build up for that.
“The Trans-cape was good for my endurance and this weekend should help me with my speed.
“I have been a bit tired after the Transcape, but have started recovering and should be good to race this weekend. I believe in racing 100% and trying to win when I race, so I will be giving it my all this weekend
“These events are important in that it gives us professional riders a chance to interact with the public. I will try to mingle with the kids and younger riders which I think is important for us to do as top athletes.”
The Lap Challenge Series has been created to develop riders of all age groups and abilities, from novices and nippers up to elite professionals and grandmasters.
There are four races on the day with riders broken into a nippers and sprogs event for the under 13 riders, and then A, B and C events depending on skill levels. This means all riders, regardless of age or gender, are racing against competitors of similar ability.
Matric pupil Tiffany Keep, who has also enjoyed a great start to 2018 with victories on the road in both time trial and road race at SA Championships last weekend, is expected to be the top female at Shongweni.
Entrants for tomorrow’s events will be able to ride the course and practice between 10am and 4pm.
The first event starts at 9am when the C Batch sets off, followed by the B Batch at 10.15am and the Nippers and Sprogs race at noon, and then the elite A Batch riders take off at 12.45.
Registration is today from noon to 3pm and tomorrow from 7.30am to 11.30am and late entries will be accepted.
Riders who want to improve their riding can join a KZN MTB sanctioned skills course today which is being hosted by Cadence Cycling’s Mark Carroll.
The UCI-accredited coach will be assessing and helping riders learn and improve skills between 8am and 11am at the course which will be used for tomorrow’s racing.