Former professional marathon and cross-country racer, Francois Theron, confirmed he’s as sharp as ever when he won the overall title at the inaugural Sox Footwear Strava Enduro held at Buffelsdrift Trail Park last weekend (31 July/1 August 2021).
By Sean Badenhorst
The event was created to fill a South African government Lockdown Level 4 racing gap to give Gauteng mountain bikers a chance to be competitive despite the heavy Covid-19 response restrictions that essentially deem any kind of traditional organised event to be illegal.
Matteo Damilano owning a rocky drop-down.
Theron is a co-owner of Buffelsdrift Trails Park and he built the six marked enduro lines a couple of years ago. He also owns the Sox footwear brand so his personal involvement in the enduro event was huge and part of his commitment to keeping racing alive.
Four of the six lines were used for the event. Entrants had all day on the Saturday and the Sunday to record their best times which were taken from Strava. The terrain is a mixture of boulder and steep near the top, changing to rocky on a moderate slope around the middle section and then pedally hardpack towards the bottom on most of the lines.
Theron clocked the fastest time on each of the four runs and his overall total time of 08 minutes 15 seconds was 25 seconds faster than runner-up Jaedown Terlouw, who clocked 08:40. Only one second separated Ryan Frerichs (08:43) and Matteo Damilano (08:44) from the final overall podiums spot.
In the age categories, Theron was the first Sub-Veteran and Terlouw the first Elite. Matthew Stubb in eight overall was the first Grand Master and James Morland in ninth overall the first Master. Du-Wayne Rood (10th) was the first Veteran and Eugene Kriek (11th) the first Junior.
There was a total of 86 entries with an impressive 20 females! There was also an encouraging number of Under-18 entries, many of them XCO racers giving Enduro a bash for the first time.
Julia Kotze’s combined time of 09:44 was quick and not only gave the first place among the women, but saw her finish an impressive 12th overall! Junior winner, Lauriesian Brett clocked 10:53 to finish second female with Youth, Tamly Luyt rounding out the podium with a time of 11:06.
Full results at the end of article.
GALLERY
Overall winner, Francois Theron
Full results
