Friday, 17 September 2010 16:42
Dust settles on the 2010 Anatomic High School MTB Series
Waterkloof Hoër takes the honours as the top-scoring school, in the process they are rewarded with 20 sets of custom-made cycling kit, a R5 000 cash prize, and the coveted floating trophy.
Reigning champions Florida slipped to fourth, while a small but talented squad from Trinity House bagged them the runner-up spot, ahead of Howick High – showing remarkably dedication in getting a strong team to Gauteng for three races in a seven-week period.
It all came to a head at Northern Farm on September 11 with the third and final round, the Tour de Farm, kicking off at 9.00 am when the sub-junior boys got underway. As he did at Hartbeespoort High three weeks ago it was Joel Hieber who rode off into the distance, Neil Robinson holding off the steadily-improving Ryan Heukelman for the second step of the podium. There was another good dice for fourth, 29er-mounted James Burford eventually shaking off Devon Rocha.
Howick’s Emily Chalmers-Banks showed the rest of the girls a clean pair of heels to make it three wins from three starts. Second and third went to Danielle Rheeder and Janice Venter. Michelle Benson took fourth ahead of Fourways’ Cian Oldknow – who promptly ran off to compete in a national cross country athletics championships!
The Youth men battle was again between Ryan Gibbons and Jac-Johann Steyn, this time the pair shaking off their pursuers quite early on, unlike the last round where we were treated to a great four-way fight. The leaders watched each other intently, but Gibbons got on the gas earlier in the final sprint to pass under Anatomic’s inflatable arch first. The Trinity House student’s performance in the series has made him the stand-out rider and clearly one to watch. Third place went to Werner van Heerden – who is becoming a ‘specialist’ bronze medallist it seems! Luke Maponyane was the leading Diepsloot/Spur rider, finishing a satisfied ninth in his delayed return to the series.
Taryn Brent repeated her 100 percent win rate in the Youth women, the strong Stanford College girl making another worthwhile trip down from Limpopo Province. Second and third went to Michelle Kruger and Maresa Oosthuizen – a repeat of the finishing order from round two.
The Junior men rode four laps of the flat and fast 9,3-kilometre course and it started off with a tight-knit group. That slowly spread out, with Linden Hoër’s Stephan Reyneke and Eldoraigne’s Xander Botha eventually dominating the sharp end. They were credited with the identical race time but it was Reyneke who sprinted across the line first.
Showing the intensity of the competition was the fact that seventh-placed Kurt Stockton of Fourways was just over three minutes adrift after nearly 90 minutes of racing in the midday heat.
In the Junior Women Claudia Bold lived up to her name by taking an early and decisive lead, the course suiting her powerful ‘roadie’ legs and helping her to a maiden win in the series. Helpmekaar’s petite Lure Viljoen was probably not too perturbed, knowing that she held the high ground points-wise thanks to back-to-back wins in the previous rounds. She seemed happy to sit behind Renthea Boshoff for much of the distance, before helping herself to the runner-up position.
“It is safe to say that the 2010 Anatomic High School Series has been a huge success, attracting an average of 300 high school students to each round and giving young people a sense of purpose and personal achievement,” concluded series organiser Deon Steyn from the Goldfields Cycling Club. “They’ve also all done something meaningful for their school and often introduced class-mates to a wonderful sport. We will be back next year with a bigger and better series!”
The organisers would like to thank its partners for their support during the series. They are: Thule, Spur, Cyclesure, West Rand Cycles, Ride Magazine, Great-Time and Helivac. And a further thank-you to those who donated cycling-related equipment to the Diepsloot Development Project – rest-assured that it will be put to good use.
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