SA XCO Cup Series

This past weekend, 4 of our boys took part in the 3rd leg of the SA XCO Cup Series in Addo, Eastern Cape.

It was a great day for the team as two of our riders got a step on the podium and the other two also achieving amazing results.

In the Youth Men Category Stephan Senekal came 2nd and Matthew Lombardi taking the 3rd spot on the podium. After being sick for two weeks prior to the race, Harrie Malan finished in 11th place.

Jannes Buijs, came in 6th place in the Junior Men category behind some of the top Junior racers in the country.

For the full results of the SA XCO Cup Series 3 see: http://www.cyclingsa.com/App_Resources/Uploads/FILE00001427.pdf

A great write up by mobii of Stephan and Matthew's race: http://blog.mobii.com/2012/05/3rd-national-xc0-mountain-biking-giantmavic/

After these great achievements over the weekend, the overall rankings of our boys for this series are as follow:

Youth Men:
Matthew Lombardi 3rd
Stephan Senekal 6th
Harrie Malan 8th

Junior Men:
Jannes Buijs 5th
Edward Best 9th

For the full XCO Points log see:  http://www.cyclingsa.com/App_Resources/Uploads/FILE00001439.pdf 

Well done to all the boys on their amazing achievements! Keep up the good work! 

WP XC #2 @ Zevenwacht

Write up by mobii of the U/16 race (and two of our riders, Matthew and Steph):


Zevenwacht Estate hosted the 2nd round of the WP XC0 series this past Sunday.  I guess the organisers forgot that it was Mother’s Day, but the turnout was still great, and the weather even better.

Photo: mobii

Matthew and Stephan from team Giant/Mavic were up against a full list of competitors in the Youth Men’s division, with the return of Ivan Venter on the start line, and the usual formidable boys from the Contego Giant team.

Matt was unfortunately without his A-game, having missed school at the end of last week with a stomach bug of sorts, and nowhere near recoverd yet.

The race comprised 4 laps, not particularly technical this time round, but with a few respectable climbs to sort things out.

Matthew settled into 6th spot after lap one, and held it there till the finish.   Disappointed, but good to have some points for the day vs a DNF, and still the 1st of the younger U15 boys in this division.

Photo: mobii 

The highlight performance of the day came from Steph. After a hard first lap, Steph was unable to shake off the chasers, and he then jostled around in 3rd position for laps 2 and 3.   After the 3rd lap, Steph was in 2nd, and close to 30 seconds behind Ivan Venter on his 29er.   Not pleased with this, Steph pushed himself beyond expectation, putting a full minute into Ivan and all the others and took the tape with a fantastic win.   Spectacular riding to say the least.

Next up for Team Giant/Mavic is the 3rd SA XCO National event near Addo, PE, on the 26th May.

Results:
Youth Men (U16):
1st Steph Senekal
6th Matthew Lombardi

Junior Men (U18):
3rd Jannes Buijs
5th Edward Best
8th Dean Morgan

Old Boys - U/23:
4th Jurgens Uys

Youth Men start:

Photo: Ehlers Smit

5th Johannes Scribante

Junior Men start:

Photo: Ehlers Smit

Old Boy - Johannes Scribante:

Photo: Ehlers Smit