Marco Martins has comfortably won The Munga, finishing in 2:10:05 (days: hours: minutes) at the Diemersfontein Wine Estate in Wellington last night.
Martins comfortably led from the front for most parts on the third day of the brutal 1070km endurance race, having consistently kept an approximate +-50km lead throughout.
Marco Martins won The Munga in a staggering time of 2:10:05 tonight. Photo: Erik Vermeulen.
The Portuguese rider also became the first international cyclist to win the race and the fastest to complete it, smashing John Ntuli’s time of 2:21:14 two years ago.
Dion Guy, who reportedly rode with a fractured rib from around the 200km mark, placed second in 2:13:04, while Kevin Benkenstein rounded out the podium in 2:13:51.
Jeannie Dreyer comfortably won the women’s category, finishing in 2:15:10. Although Dreyer wasn’t in contention for the overall top spot as evidenced last year, she still managed to improve on her time by just over eight hours.
The standard was exceedingly high in this year’s edition, with all finishers so far having beaten the previous race record.
View provisional results below.
Men (days: hours: minutes)
1. Marco Martins 2:10:05
2. Dion Guy 2:13:04
3. Kevin Benkenstein 2:13:51
4. Sthembiso Masango 2:13:55
5. Freek van Tonder 2:13:58
6. Jeannie Dreyer 2:15:10
7. Riccardo Stermin 2:19:26
8. Mike Woolnough 2:19:40
9. Arno Crous 2:20:29
10. Guy Jennings 20:20:30
11. Steven Wolhuter 2:21:54
12. Janine Stewart 3:02:04
13. Piet Laubscher 3:04:16
14. Simon Rollo 3:07:29
15. Martin Bain Venn 3:08:21
