Trisport
The Inaugural Jakkalsvlei Mountain bike race and the Jackal Trail Run took place on the 24th of January at the newly built Wine Tasting Room at Jakkalsvlei Wine Estate in Herbertsdale. With an exciting 57km MTB and a shorter 27km MTB option, riders of all abilities were able to explore the best kept secret of the garden route. There was also a 6km Jackal Trail Run that proved to be just as exciting and challenging.
Trisport
On Saturday morning 209 athletes took part in these Jakkalsvlei events. At 07:00 the 57km mountain bikers took to the start line. Starting the race with a steep descent, with a magnificent view of the Jakkalsvlei vineyards and the Tasting Room in the background. Timo Cooper and Nicky Gilliomee took the lead from the start. The riders weaved their way through the vineyard, over the hills and down the Gouritz River valley. The 27km and 10km MTB riders took to the routes at 8:00 and we had some very excited youngsters among these riders. Shortly after, at 08:15 the 6km Jackal Trail Runners had their turn in the vineyard and on the challenging hilly terrain.
The first young cyclist across the line was Skye Lategan who road an amazing time of 00:29: 41 in the 10km MTB. There was an exceptional gap of 15min between him and the second place rider, which just goes to show how quickly he moved.
Samuel Vermaak and Johan van Niekerk took the lead from the start in the 6km Jackal Trail run. Johan over-took Samuel and finished in a time of 00:31:53, beating Samuel with just 4 seconds. The third place male, Nicholas Crisp was close behind them with a time of 00:33:48. The 1st female runner across the line was Theresa Bester with an amazing time of 00:33:46 – beating the third male and showing that the ladies are also very competitive. Nicholas said he was trying to keep up with Theresa, but in the end she just finished strong. In second place was Anami du Plessis and in third was Delmari Henning.
For the 27km MTB Matthew Lake was first with a time of 1:23:33 followed closely by the junior Casper Pretorius in 2nd and Gordon Meyer in the 3rd place. The first lady in for the 27km Jakkalsvlei MTB was Erika Goedhals with a winning time of 01:48:55. Second place went to Lizelle Muller and third was shared by Desiree & Leonora Du Preez.
Timo Cooper won the 57km MTB with a staggering time of 02:08:24, beating Henri Meyer by 3 seconds. Frans Grotepass was 3 seconds behind Henri. A grand total of 6 second difference between first and third, just shows how much they were chasing one another. The iron ladies of the 57km came in shortly after Timo. Nicky Gilliomee cycled an amazing time of 02:22:25 followed by Liza-Mari Gilliomee in 2nd place and Marike Vreken in third.
Trisport Director, Sonja Otto and Hano Otto are looking forward to the next Jakkalsvlei event on the 31st October this year. The event will take place in October/November each year from now onwards. The next event that Trisport will be organising in the close vicinity will be the Trans-Outeniqua 3 day stage Mountainbike tour from 20 to 22 February. Check out Trisport.co.za for more results and upcoming events or follow them on twitter @TrisportSA and TrisportSA on Facebook.
