Several of Louis Trichardt’s promising young mountain-bike cyclists had the opportunity to get a taste of the “big leagues” and gain valuable experience the past weekend by entering for the third round of the Stihl 2016 SA XCO Cup Series, hosted by the City of Tshwane at the Wolwespruit Bike Park in Erasmuskloof.

Excitement ran high as the local team, consisting of Richard Lambert, Douglas Archer, Marno van Zyl, Gerhardt Meyer and Kombo Bere, as well as the only female rider, Christelle Coetzer, left for Pretoria early Friday morning. For many it was, however, a wake-up call when they arrived at the race track, especially for those competing at a national level for the first time. The route, mostly consisting of single tracks, was extremely technical in nature, with many challenging jumps and steep, rocky downhill descends.

Nonetheless, none of the local riders backed down from the challenge of what awaited them on Saturday. As the track proved even difficult for the most experienced riders, such as South African mountain-bike champion James Reid, who took a tumble in his race but still managed to win the Elite Men’s section, all the local youngsters managed to complete their races, be it not without falls and technical difficulties.

Christelle, as a first-time competitor at this level, did exceptionally well, finishing fifth overall in the Youth Women (15 to 16) category. Both men and women competed on the same track of just under 5 kilometres, with the women in the Youth category having to complete four laps. Christelle’s overall time was 01:25:20.

The star of the weekend was probably Richard Lambert. He was the only local rider to secure a top-10 finish. Richard competed in the Youth Men category (five laps) and cycled home in eighth place overall in a time of 01:19:22.

Douglas and Marno competed in the Junior Men's section of the race. Both had their work cut out for them, having to fight through a huge field of riders. They ended up riding the course (also five laps) together, with Douglas crossing the finishing line a mere second before Marno in a time of 01:39:26 to finish in 29th position. Marno was 30th in 01:39:27, despite also taking a nasty fall.

One of the region’s star riders who need no introduction, Kombo Bere, also had a tough race in the Elite Men 19+ category. Technical difficulties, including a chain break, cost him valuable time and shattered his dreams of securing a top-10 finish. He finished 30th overall in a time of 01:43:47. Teammate Gehardt also competed in this category, managing to secure a 36th position overall in a time of 01:55:41.

Stanley Thompson of the newly established Soutpansberg Cycling Club had high praise for the local riders. "They did exceptionally well," Thompson said, "against the backdrop of how tough this level of racing really is and how many DNFs (did not finish) the race delivered". Another aspect to keep in mind, Thompson explained, is seeding. He said that a lot of the local riders did not have good seeding positions. In the case of Douglas and Marno, they started their race almost at the extreme back of the field. With the route mainly consisting of single tracks, cyclists at the back of the field literally had to play catch-up for the whole of the race. “Through events like these, we want to improve our riders’ seeding positions,” Thompson said.

“It was extremely tough, but I finished and gained an enormous amount of technical knowledge during the race,” remarked Marno upon his return home. This was exactly the aim Thompson said they wanted to achieve, namely to expose local riders to the more competitive nature of national events, so that they can improve their overall fitness, discipline and technical skills.