No way past PE’s stars
Port Elizabeth cyclists Bradley Gouveris and Anriette Schoeman were the toast of the annual Butterworth to East London race after they powered to impressive wins during a tough 2018 event on Sunday morning.
Gouveris cruised to a solid win on the men’s front for his first piece of silverware in the race, while Schoeman defended the title she won last year in a thrilling sprint finish that saw East London’s Cindy Schwulst just miss out and have to settle for runner-up again.
The men’s race had a strong field, with last year’s top three from the Randwater-Transnet team all back, including defending champion Thando Zothe, who was gunning for another win.
However Gouveris ended up proving too strong for Zothe and Warick Minkly, after the three broke away early in the race and stuck together until near the end where Gouveris put his foot down to speed away and take the win in a time of 2hrs, 40min, 14sec.
Zothe had to settle for runnerup, four minutes and one second behind the winner, while Minkly rounded out the podium in a time of 2:51:44.
“This year’s race was quite challenging, the conditions in previous years were different with some good calm weather, so this year was the first time that we had a bit of wind which all the guys said was challenging, which made for more exciting racing,” said one of the event organisers Fumi May.
“It was neck and neck at a stage between Brad and Thando, after the top three men had broken away early on, and they maintained a pace together until the very end when things really got heated as they came into the NEX and that's when the real racing happened.”
In the women's race Schoeman and Schwulst stuck together from start to finish, with Schoeman just having the legs to take the win in a time of 3hrs, 01min, 49sec, while Schwulst clocked in a second later.
Siska van der Bijl then took third place eight minutes and 41 seconds off the pace.
“The conditions were really tough, it was hectically windy and very hot at some points, so I was just relieved to come out on top,” said Schoeman.
“She (Schwulst) really climbed well and gave me a real run for my money, but I knew that I was a better sprinter than her, so it was only the two of us together when we got to the top of the Kei Cuttings and I thought that we might tussle and try and break away, but with the heavy wind we just decided to work together and paced it nicely until the end where I just edged her.”
Schoeman admitted that she enjoys the race and will be back next year again, while it has also given her good momentum heading into another big race.
“Everything went 100%, this is a very well organised race and it is just a wonderful race to be a part of, I really enjoy doing it and I will definitely look to come back and defend my title again next year,” said Schoeman.
“I have still got the 94.7 race, so it was very good preparation for it because it is one of my main races for the year.”
The 60km Komga to East London race was also battled out on the day, with the locals dominating as Jason Reed, fresh off winning the recent Thomas River Valley Mountain Bike race took the win in an exciting sprint finish ahead of Eben Hartslief in second and Jason Peach in third with just five seconds separating the top three.
Yanga Stofile was then the only women in the 60km race.
“We had just one entrant in the women's 60km race, so she had won the race before it had even started and to her credit she really put in a big effort and I admired her tenacity,” admitted May. “That is what this race is all about.”