22-year-old Wayne van der Walt gambled on his gear choice, racing a gravel bike at the 2023 36ONE MTB Challenge. Despite warnings against it and being the only rider in the elite group to be on a drop-bar bike he prevailed. Perhaps in fact because of his bike choice. Though doing so required a significant amount of skill as well as superb conditioning.<\/p>\n
The weather, with intermittent drizzle falling on already muddy roads and cold temperatures played their part in determining the winners too, on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 May. In fact, the conditions were probably the toughest they have ever been for The Ultimate Race. This was accentuated by both defending champions being forced out with mechanicals. In hindsight Van der Walt\u2019s 45mm tyres cleared mud better than the 2.1 inch, and wider, mountain bike tyres on his rivals\u2019 bikes. He also reported being able to save energy in the early phases of the race, which paid dividends later. These factors certainly aided him in overcoming not only his rivals but also the rain, mud and icy temperatures.<\/p>\n
The early kilometres, which looped north of Oudtshoorn before turning east and then south east towards Louvain, were raced into a brisk headwind. \u201cDrikus Coetzee, set a really fast pace on the first climb and split the group into just six of us,\u201d Van der Walt explained. That group, which included the leading Relay Team, RDX Powerbar\u2019s Theuns van der Bank, was made up of Van der Walt, Coetzee, Freddie Visser, Gareth Jooste and Pieter Korkie.<\/p>\n
At Check Point 1, 100 kilometres into the 361 kilometre route, Korkie withdrew sighting the muddy conditions and the desire to spare his equipment further punishment. Shortly thereafter the defending champion and course record holder, Coetzee, was forced out by a broken crank. The Namibian\u2019s mechanical threw the race wide open.<\/p>\n
With Chris Cronje, RDX Powerbar\u2019s second relay rider, forging ahead the top three solo racers were left to battle among themselves. \u201cI spoke to Freddie [Visser] and said let\u2019s work together,\u201d Van der Walt continued. \u201cBut then he went to the front and rode 350 watts. I knew that was unsustainable and I let him go. Gareth [Jooste] and I then worked together to through the next Check Point and onto the Rooiberg Pass climb.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Pass Visser faltered, as his bike light stopped working. This allowed Van der Walt and Jooste to regain parity. The recently graded northern road up the pass was in perfect condition, despite the rain. This allowed Van der Walt to establish a lead over Visser and Jooste, who endured a minor crash on the descent.<\/p>\n
Coming into the final check point, in Calitzdorp, Van de Walt held a 5 minute advantage over Visser and Jooste. Over the final 83 kilometres of the race, back to Oudtshoorn, he extended his advantage to an impressive 22 minutes and 53 seconds. His winning time was 15 hours, 37 minutes and 52 seconds. Jooste finished second, with Visser completing the podium.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s race Yolande de Villiers set the early pace, as she, Mariske Smith and Rebecca van Huyssteen settled into groups separated by 2 minutes each, on the roads to Louvain. Shortly after Check Point 1 de Villiers also suffered a race ending mechanical. In the mud a rock became lodged between her crank and the chainring, which broke her chain and damaged the frame of her bike.<\/p>\n
The defending champion\u2019s misfortune handed Smith the race lead, which she never relinquished. As the groups broke apart she and Van Huyssteen were isolated and largely ground their way through the second half of the race solo. Smith nonetheless continued to extend her advantage on the road, eventually winning by more than 2 hours.<\/p>\n
Van Huyssteen secured second, but confessed that it had been an exceptionally challenging day out: \u201cThe cold was the toughest part. I think the cold was harder than the mud actually, and the mud was ridiculous. It was freezing!\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith and Van Huyssteen were joined on the solo women\u2019s podium by Francis Visser. The four rider relay teams race was won by RDX Powerbar. Following Van der Bank and Cronje\u2019s strong rides through legs one and two of the course Reese McDonald and Andreas Studer completed the victory for the squad, posting a time of 14 hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds. The EuroSteel Ciovita team of Donovan Geldenhuys and Garth Ennion won the men\u2019s team competition, while Swimmers with a Riding Problem\u2019s Kirsty Thompson and Georgina Smith won the women\u2019s race. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of stupid things over the years,\u201d Thompson laughed on the finish line. \u201cBut this tumps everything. It was brutal out there!\u201d The Mixed Team competition was won by Nicola Freitas and Willem Mouton.<\/p>\n