Youth and experience combined successfully on the opening day of the inaugural Emilgroup / Ergon North Coast Challenger MTB stage race at Holla Trails near Ballito with 41-year-old Andrew Hill and 20-year-old Brent Yelland claiming honours after the prologue.
Hill and Yelland (Team North Coast Boys) opted to start as soon as possible in the unique open start time format for the prologue time trial and their tactical decision on a windy first day paid dividends as they will take a lead of over three minutes into the second stage of the MTB Race presented by CeraGran.
In the solo event, David Yapp holds a narrow lead over William Piat with Joshua Metcalf third. Just 20 seconds covers the first three so there is sure to be plenty of action between the three over the next two days.
Saturday’s 59km stage is the Queen stage of the longer event and second-placed Sanele Shabalala and Paul Shackleton (Team PS) and the Adriaan Van Schoor / Matthew Elliott (Shaka’s Rock Racing) combination will have to be at their best to get the better of Hill and Yelland.
The leaders are a potent combination, and as much as Hill is not longer a full-time pro, he is still a regular top five finisher at top-level mountain bike events in KZN and his young protégé is becoming one of the province’s star riders with a string of impressive results over the past year.
“It was a solid first day of racing,” said Hill after finishing the stage earlier today. “Nice to have a good fast start in the dry weather – it was windy but at least it was dry!
“Our aim was to start early and miss any of the traffic and so not have delays from slower riders. I do think it was nice to have the open start system. It gives the riders some freedom as to when they want to start the race. We pushed hard from the start so we did not have any hangers-on.
“The trails were riding brilliantly today, so well done to the Holla Trails guys, and we are looking forward to tomorrow.
“My teammate is a good strong youngster and he is very good on the long steady stuff because he comes from a road background, so it will be good to go for another win tomorrow.”
Saturday also sees the start of the Trail Run Stage Race presented by Salomon with runners tackling 18km as their opening stage in the two-day event.
Both MTB and trail run also have a “Lite” option with the shorter MTB race a 30km loop around the Holla Trail’s network while the runners will tackle 10km in their shorter event.
Results
Full Distance
Team:
1 Brent Yelland / Andrew Hill (North Coast Boys) 0:45:16
2 Sanele Shabalala / Paul Shackleton (Team PS) 0:48:44
3 Adriaan Van Schoor / Matthew Elliott (Shakas Rock Racing) 0:51:54
4 Rouxda Grobler / Jacques Grobler (The Groblers) – 1st Mixed – 0:52:04
Solo
Men
1 David Yapp 0:47:38
2 William Piat 0:47:54
3 Joshua Metcalf 0:47:58
4 Mitchell Ginsberg 0:49:46
5 Njabulo Cele 0:50:24
Women
1 Tracey Quin 1:07:05
2 Ilsa Van Niekerk 1:09:45
3 Ann Swanepoel 1:18:15
Short Distance
Team
1 Calan Goetsch / Evan Grant (Bandworx/Big Decks) 1:10:42
2 Jonathan Hein / Shane Wollenschlaeger (Bloemendaal) 1:13:38
3 James Scott / Kobus De Vrye (Rivers) 1:16:24
4 Garth Gaffley / Grant Kenton (Ballito Ballies) 1:20:52
5 Sally Skewis / Pene Vogt (Sheffield Sprinters) – 1st Women 1:21:02
6 Michael Pullock / James Livingstone (Team Yazu) 1:24:21
7 Rochelle Van Eck / Craig King (Health Hustlers) – 1st Mixed 1:25:59
Solo
Men
1 James Close 0:55:33
2 Tejan Pillay 1:05:26
3 Stuart Meyer 1:08:03
Women
1 Kylie Harborth 1:03:30
2 Sophie Bircher 1:07:13
3 Paula Dollman 1:19:06
Source: Gameplan Media
