Robyn de Groot (Biogen Toyota) overcame a tough course to retain the South African Women’s Marathon Mountain Bike title in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
From left: Candice Neethling (silver), Robyn de Groot (gold) and Samantha Sanders (bronze) the podium finishers at the 2014 Elite Women’s South Africa Marathon Championships in Pietermaritzburg. Photo: Supplied
De Groot clocked a winning time of 4 hours 4 minutes 32 seconds for the 70km course, which took the riders out of Pietermaritzburg, up to Hilton and back down to Pietermaritzburg for a total of 2400 metres of vertical ascent.
London Olympian, Candice Neethling (VeloLife Time Freight) claimed second place, over nine minutes back, with Samantha Sanders (Valencia) a further seven minutes down, securing third place.
Incidentally, it was the same podium placement as the 2013 national championships.
“That was a hectic course!” said a weary De Groot afterwards. “There was so much climbing and there were technical sections throughout, not just in the final 20km as we’d been expecting.”
De Groot took the lead early on as the race reached the first climb not far from the start. Only Yolande de Villiers (Sasol Racing) was able to match her early pace, but soon fell back into the group behind.
2014 South African Marathon Championships, presented by Stihl, results:
Elite women:
1 Robyn de Groot (Biogen Toyota) 04hrs04min32sec
2 Candice Neethling (VeloLife Time Freight) 04:13:43
3 Samantha Sanders (Valencia) 04:21:20
4 Jeannie Dreyer (USN HiTec) 04:23:22
5 Amy Beth McDougall (Valencia) 04:29:00
6 Hayley Smith (Bell) 04:32:31
7 Carla van Huysteen (VeloLife Time Freight) 04:33:42
8 Yolandi du Toit (Garmin) 04:37:31
9 Janine King 04:38:26
10 Leana de Jager 04:39:19
