Xmas Dinner Charity Ride - 16th Dec

 

The 16th was slated as a special running of the Swazi Trails MTB Mid-weeker. There were three aspects to this: a corporate challenge for teams of four, a donation collected for charity and a post-event dinner. In the end not many legit teams were entered (all four members needed to be from the same place of employment) so this aspect was downplayed. However, the donations to charity were generously made and the dinner was well-attended so all-in-all a great end-of-year event.

Darron Raw took off like a rabbit being pursued by a pack of dogs and held the lead until the Lobamba uphill, when he was hauled in by Moshoeshoe Khumalo, Menzi Tsela and William Kelly. After the racing snakes scattered a few confused bemanti adjacent to Ludzidzini (surely a mark of great disrespect - eish siyacolisa madvoda), Raw put his weight advantage and recklessness to good use and opened up a small lead again before finally hitting the wall near Esitjeni.

Carlos Malinga pushed hard to catch the leaders, but was clearly feeling the strain of the 35km ride he undertook to reach the start. William Kelly and Moshoeshoe broke from the group of four close to Nkhanini, with Kelly continuing onwards to win in a personal best of 42:04, taking 1min50s off his previous best time.  Khumalo was a mere one second behind, also in a personal best. Malinga had to be content with third in 44:57, whilst Tsela was within sight of him in 45:20. They were both approximately two minutes slower then their previous best efforts.

Raw used the wheel of Denzel McFadden to recover on the flat sections of Nkhanini, before again using the downhill to his advantage to open enough of a lead to capture 5th spot in 46:10.

Behind them Mike Richardson took a dive in the Red Sea for what appeared to be a mud pack treatment, whilst strong pushes from Dumi Mhlongo and Nadja Shields saw them both posting personal bests.

Kevin Haycocks a regular campaigner who has recorded many starts, but few official finishes was also notable for finally posting an officially recorded time. Next mission is to get in under one hour Kevin!

Craig Randal showed he was well into the festive season spirit and did the fatherly duty of escorting daughters Sky and Storm around the course, whilst Anita Raw was accompanied by little Paige and Lynn Taylor by Kirsen. Well done folks!

from left to right: Racing snakes: Carlos Malinga, William Kelly, Menzi Tsela & Moshoeshoe Khumalo








William Kelly    00:42:04
Moshoeshoe Khumalo    00:42:05
Carlos Malinga    00:44:57
Menzi Tsela    00:45:20
Darron Raw    00:46:10
Denzel McFadden    00:46:34
Mike Craigie    00:48:02
Gcina Ndlangamandla    00:49:11
Wandile Msibi    00:50:08
John Williams    00:50:17
Dumi Mhlongo    00:50:59
Nadja Shields    00:53:07
Victor Oliveira    00:55:25
Mark Kashiki    00:55:56
Mike Richardson    00:57:15
Kevin Haycocks    01:03:09
Manyakatane Dlamini    01:05:19
Bafana Dlamini    01:15:08
Abtaab Dada    01:31:00