Samantha Sanders was thrilled with her runner-up spot in the third leg of the Pursuit Challenge at Buffelsdrift Trail Park, Pretoria, over the weekend.
Speaking to In the Bunch, she expressed her delight at making her debut in a race she called a “dynamic and fresh” addition to the racing calendar.
“This was my first Pursuit Challenge having missed last year’s event due to injury,” Sanders said.
“I was excited to take part in this dynamic and fresh concept of racing. A solo effort against the clock on my mountain bike is an entirely new discipline for me.”
Sanders – who collected victories at the Wildevy MTB Race, Sabie Xperience, Knysna Bull and Barberton XCM MTB Challenge in the 2019 season – has a new team for the season ahead.
“Having joined Galileo-Infinity-Spot, I wanted to do well, but finishing second was a total bonus!”
The pro from Mbombela said she felt comfortable on the 45km course.
“The route was super fun with a good mix of singletrack and climbing.
“We dropped into the Supertube singletrack quite early in the race, which played to my advantage being a better technical rider than climber,” the 37-year-old, who was able to set “a bunch” of personal Strava records on the notoriously rocky course, said.
When all was said and done, she completed the course in 1:51:55, leaving her just under two minutes shy of Kim Le Court’s 1:49:59. Theresa Ralph completed the podium in 1:53:30.
The men’s race was won by Philip Buys (1:28:06) ahead of Shaun-Nick Bester (1:30:11) and Jan Withaar (1:30:42).
View full results.