When Cycling SA announced they were holding SA marathon champs in my back yard I had to go and explore the valley of a 1000hills, and what better way than in South Africa’s most prestigious marathon race.

With my goals being set on the local racing scene the prospect of the SA Champs race was more of an experience to see where I fitted into the national marathon seeding rather than vying for UCI points. And ultimately this last Sunday proved to be a great experience on the bike.

The marathon race route started at the Inanda msinsi reserve bordering the picturesque Inanda dam and wound its way sharply upwards within the first 7km by 400meters. After dropping down back to the dam level we then looped and climbed high into the cliffs above the Duzi river before barrelling downwards to cross the river and head clockwise around the dam below the dam wall and back to the reserve gates. 

Unluckily for my race just after the first water table at 17km we descended down a bumpy track where my full unused juice bottle dropped out of the cage and rolled into the grass never to be seen again. The racing from the word go was hard and fast with a 10 rider strong lead group forming. This group help all the championship contenders who were sitting comfortably in the pack not wanting to make the first move. This all changed once we hit the 2nd climb of the day at 22km with the group splitting up quickly. I was left in the second group with the likes of the Garmin riders, Mannie Haymans and François Theron, and the MTN duo of Adrien Noenshuti and Paul Cordes. We were later picked up by the “Mr consistent” Ben Melt Swannapoel who notoriously starts slowly and then picks his way through the field. I managed to stick with Team Specialized rider and we climbed away from the chasers to catch Matius Beukes who had been spat out of the leading group or Evans, Stander, George, Buys, Stewart and Crouser.

I tried to put the miss hap with the juice bottle coming out of my cage out of my mind but I knew it would come back to hurt as the heat of the day heated the valley to the anticipated 37degrees. I went through the 2nd water table in 12th place and refuelled. I knew the next water table would be at 65km and I would need to use my one bottle very carefully to get there without too much fluid deficit. It was at about 61km where I started feeling the telltale signs of dehydration and the mind went into survival mode. I slowed right down and in the process let 4 riders past me. Franscois Threron (Garmin Addidas), my sani2C partner Carl Calverley, Jock Green (Ghost bikes), and Nico Bell. I couldn’t let this get to me and I continued to the next water point where I could grab my full juice bottles and food from my seconding team. I wasn’t too demoralised as I caught up James Reed (BMC) who’d gone out far too hard and blown in the single track approaching the 3rd feed zone, and between the both of us we grunted a couple of words to each other and continued to ride together until James hit the wall climbing up a seriously 23% gradient kicker climb.

In the final 20km to the finish I felt the effect of the food and juice with my sugar levels coming right. I pushed hard to close the gap between myself and the riders who’d passed me but just didn’t have the energy levels to do so.

My final time crossing the line was 3hr:49min:30s in 17th place, which when I look back now was considerably faster than I had anticipated after the wheels fell off at 65km, and I felt like jumping in a taxi!

Article by Andrew Hill,
TIB Sponsored Cyclist