Louis Trichardt mountain bikers this year dominated the 35km event of the annual Munnik Meerkat Mountain Bike Challenge which took place the past weekend.

Hosted by the Munnik Farmers Association, in conjunction with the P&L Cycling Club, the Munnik Meerkat is ever growing in popularity. This is evident when looking at the growing number of entries over the past few years. Entries for this year’s event almost doubled from about 250 in 2011 to 425 in 2012.

This year’s gruelling 70km event attracted 47 die-hard cyclists. In the end, however, there can be only one winner, with top honours in the men’s race going to Alan Gordon, who raced the distance in a time of 2:44:40. A mere second slower was Hein Engelbercht in second place in 2:44:41. The 53-year-old Henry Hayes showed the youngsters a thing or two by coming in third in 2:47:58. Hayes was also the first men’s master home, while Hein also captured the title of King of the Mountain.

Mirande Rossouw finished as first woman in the 70km event in a time of 3:21:38. She was also Queen of the Mountain. Her closes rival, Louwrina Dando, cycled home more than 20 minutes later to take second place in a time of 3:42:01. Louwrina was also the first veteran woman. Third place went to Elbie Lourens in a time of 3:55:37.

Although not coming in among the top three positions, several Louis Trichardt riders managed a top-10 finish in the 70km event. Christiaan Roos was the first junior home and fifth overall in a time of 3:04:58. SP van Wyk was eighth overall in 3:09:18 and Casper Venter ninth in 3:11:46.

As stated, Louis Trichardt’s mountain bikers dominated the 35km event, snatching up first place in the men’s, women’s and team categories.

Louis Trichardt’s Bas Rennings took top honours in the men’s race, finishing in a very fast 1:14:03. Mere seconds later he was followed home by Evan Lume in second place in 1:14:09. Lume was also the first U/18. Third place went to Frans Malebane in 1:14:12. The first men’s master was Stephan le Roux in 1:22:05.

In the women’s race, Louis Trichardt’s Sarah Venter stamped her authority onto the race by coming in first in a time of 1:28:52. A couple of minutes later, Marie-Louise Lume finished in 1:30:53, with Wendy-Lee van Deventer third in 1:31:51. Petro du Plessis was the first women’s master in 1:42:14 and Ruth White the first female U/18 in 1:52:28.

The 35km team event was also won by Louis Trichardt riders, with team Snotty Noses cycling across the finish line first. The team consisted of Shaun Constable, Stanley Thompson, Marius Smit and Karel Killian. Their winning time was 1:24:01.

In the 10km fun ride, the first U/16 boy home was Sean-Christopher Slatter, followed by Michael van Zyl and Janco Coetzee third. The first U/16 girl was Sarah Pogrund, with Ronel Liebenberg second and Keelin Anderson third.