Team RSAWEB No.1 at National XCO Cup Series!
We’re thrilled to announce that Renay Groustra , from Team RSAWEB has come in 1st at the National XCO Cup Series! Renay gave us a first hand account of his blistering win at World’s View in Pietermartizburg!
After a 7 year absence from the National series, Worlds View once again played host to some of the top mountain bikers in South Africa in what would be the final race out of 4 in the National SA XCO Cup Series.
The track, very a-typical of Worlds View, didn’t feature a lot of climbing or technical difficulty, but rather made up for it with very twisty and undulating single track through the forest, with high speed sections of jeep track in between.
The fact that some of our best riders were in Canada competing in the World Cup on the same day didn’t mean that the field was weak, with big names such as Oliver Munnik, Brandon Stewart, Arno du Toit, Sean Craig Silver and new boy on the block Jason Meaton – it just goes to show the great state that SA mountain biking is in!
As expected the start was fast, and immediately Arno du Toit showed me that he was going to be my strongest opposition for the day. I set a hard pace on the front to stretch the field, and on such a flat track the gaps were never big. Arno and I switched the lead a few times throughout the race to help with the pacing. We both had our digs at each other to try and get a gap, but neither of us were giving an inch. I could tell that this was going to be a cat and mouse game!
It was halfway through our 4th lap of 6 that I put in a huge effort, and looking over my shoulder I was half expecting to see him there still. He wasn’t, and had given me a few meters at that moment I applied more and more pressure and managed to open up a gap of a few seconds, which is all you need on a track like this, and barring a mistake I could possibly hold on for the win!
I kept my head down, and focused on not over doing it on the corners for the next few laps and managed to avoid any mistakes. By the end I had managed to stretch the lead to about 1 minute and took my first victory of the season!
This win was special to me as it also tied up my overall victory in the SA XCO Cup Series, a title that has eluded me since winning it in 2007 and 2008 as an U23 rider.
This was my first Elite title and it felt great!
Thanks to RSAWEB for their support through the season and enabling me to achieve, and to Rocky Mountain for the fantastic piece of machinery that carried me across the finish line in 1st place!
Now the focus is all towards SA Champs happening in Nelspruit in a month’s time on one of my favourite courses. Watch this space!
Thanks to Renay for the write up and congrats on a huge win! Follow Renay and TeamRSAWEB for more updates.
Check out the SA National Cup Series results/ leader-board here!
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