Samantha Sanders and Amy McDougall will make their debut in The U MTB Stage Race that begins in Piketberg tomorrow.
The dormakaba pair, who recently won the women’s race at the Berg and Bush “Descent”, are excited to be taking part in the three-day Western Cape event for the first time.
“We’ve just heard so many good things about the event and how amazing the trails are so we decided to have a crack at it,” said Sanders.
Samantha Sanders (front) and Amy McDougall, pictured here during the recent Berg and Bush “Descent”, will line up for the first time at The U MTB Stage Race that starts in Piketberg tomorrow. Photo: Tobias Ginsberg
She felt the race, which consists of a 7.06km prologue, 49.82km first stage and 51.08km second stage, was “pretty technical”.
“It has tons of singletrack and we love that, but having never even ridden the trails we plan to take each day as it comes.”
She added that it was technical riding which suited them both “down to the ground”.
They would go into the event with open minds as Sanders said they were “total newbies” but still wanted to race and do well.
“Stage racing is about partnerships and sharing the workload. Amy and I each bring respect for each other and insight into the value of teamwork and that gets us through.”
Sanders felt that every race had a level of importance as you were there representing your sponsors and team.
“As professionals we always aim to do well and race hard. We also look forward to having our sponsor there [this weekend], so we’ll definitely want to earn some brownie points,” she chuckled.
Overall, Sanders said she was satisfied with her season. There had been some ups and downs but she was happy to be riding for dormakaba and felt pleased with her year.
“There’s always room for improvement and I look forward to making those changes for next year.
“I’m just incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to do what I love for another year and I look forward to loving racing my bike.”
