Jaco van Dyk and Hayley Preen captured the overall men and women’s titles at the 2024 Honeycomb Gravel Travel 100 Miler which was held at Café du Cirque, south of Johannesburg on Saturday 27 July.
Van Dyk’s victory came when he rolled across the finish line alongside his Honeycomb Pro Cycling teammate and South African Gravel Champion, Marc Pritzen in a time of 04 hours 29 minutes and 50 seconds. Van Dyk was fractionally in front of Pritzen, but the team’s success was the priority at a race with the same title sponsor.
Kent Main (RKC Collective) came home in third place just over half a minute later, with the Imbuko Pro Cycling pair of Wessel Botha and Marco Joubert rounding out the top five respectively. Rohan du Plooy (RKC Collective) secured the R5000 King of the Moutains prime.
By contrast, Preen’s victory margin was more pronounced. The multiple South African champion contested the Queen of the Mountain prime at 56km and then continued on her own for more than 100km to finish in 05:31:42. South African Gravel Champion, Danielle Strydom managed to outsprint Juanita Mackenzie to secure the runner-up spot in 5:44:31. Taneal Otto and Lisa Bone were in the same bunch and crossed the finish line fourth and fifth respectively.
The Honeycomb Gravel Travel 100 Miler was the launch event for the new In the Sticks Gravel Series. Top finishers not only earned generous prizemoney, they also earned points and will do well to contest the other two rounds, the BBBEE Wise Gravel Grinder on 28 September and the BES Gran Fondo on 2 November.
More than 600 riders entered the Honeycomb Gravel Travel 100 Miler with the bulk opting for the main 100-mile race and the rest spread through the 70-mile and 60km distances.
Full results can be seen here.
For more information on the In the Sticks Gravel Series, click here.
