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Cannondale Garden Route 300 receives high praiseTuesday, 01 March 2011 11:44 New Garden Route MTB race a hitby Rob Hill This is a difficult article to write. I have to guard against two things and I don’t think I can – bias and gushing! Bias because I LOVE Knysna and love it when things go right here and gushing because well things have gone so very right. What am I talking about? Well just in case you didn’t know, the Cannondale Garden Route 300 (GR300) was held this past weekend in Knysna. This is the first and only multi-day cycle race to be held in and around Knysna since the Epic and makes use of the wonderful area immediately around us. Day one took the riders out towards “Coffee Pot” and Petrus se Brand and needless to say Patrick added a little of his own spice and to quote one rider from Knysna “Day one was the best ride I have ever done”. Day two started just outside Sedgefield at Pine Lake Marina and fed the riders up through Rondevlei, Karatara and then down back to Knysna over the “Red Bridge”. This seems to have been, talking to the riders, a very well weighted day with loads of climbs but LOADS of beautiful scenery. Day two on a three day event is always hard but I think this one fitted the bill very well. Day three was opened up to the public as a single day race which gave lots of people who could not do all three days the opportunity to at least be a part of the awesome event – a stroke of genius. The route took us up Phantom Pass through to do some of the Homtini trail and back to Knysna via “the Hydro”. Now for those of you who have done the Hydro the right way around you will know it is tough – do it the wrong way around and, my word, it is impressive. My GPS told me that the gradient touched 35% at one stage which is MONSTER! This stage in all is a very tough but unbelievably beautiful ride which had the riders singing, literally, towards the end. We always seem to take it for granted that events like this just happen and most of us don’t conceive of the work that goes into making a success of an event this big. Well Patrick and Louise…..you did it. Knysna has, once again, got an event to be proud of – the home village was great, the water points outstanding, the ethos was “right” and the route….well….what bigger word can I find than phenomenal. Thank you for helping to put Knysna back on the mountain biking map and most of all thank you for giving us such an awesome race! Just a quick mention to Tessa Conte – Tess we hope you get better soon – sucks, but you will back real soon, just you wait and see. Good job to all the local cycle clubs for their representation – very impressive especially Coaches Corner – well done. Results:
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