Africa-Press – Namibia. Drikus Coetzee and Nina Holtrup were crowned the Nedbank Desert Dash champions on Saturday after winning the men and women’s solo races.
Coetzee covered the 401km race from Windhoek, through the Khomas Hochland and the Namib Desert down to Swakopmund at the coast in 14 hours 13 minutes 32 seconds, to finish more than an hour and a half ahead of Jaques Hanekom and Martin Freyer who came in together in second and third places respectively.
European champion Andreas Seewald of Germany seemed to be on course to win the title, but he had to withdraw after his rear wheel got irreparably damaged in an accident with about 100km to go.
That put Coetzee clear to snatch his second title after his first success in 2022, while he narrowly missed out last year, after finishing a split second behind Konny Looser.
After the race, Coetzee said it was a bittersweet moment.
“I’m proud of my ride and what I achieved today, considering the build up I had over the last three months with illness and stuff, but at the same time, it’s definitely not the way a sportsman would like to win and I’d like to give a heartfelt message to Andreas. He was leading, but that’s sport. I’ve had my bad luck in this race and it’s not finished until it’s finished. So as a sportsman, I feel for him,” he said.
“But I’m very, very glad to pull off my second win at the Desert Dash. I’d also like to thank all my fans and my family, everyone that’s dealing with me, for all their inputs and support. Every time I go out, I ride with my heart, I don’t ride according to a script or anything, I just do my own thing and I think that worked for me today,” he added.
The race could have turned out much different though had it not been for Seewald’s misfortune. Entering Paratus Check Point at Bloedkoppe, he held an 11-minute lead with about 120km remaining. He, however, had to withdraw shortly after, when he damaged his bike in a freak accident.
“Close to the finish of the pipeline, I saw too late a concrete square in the ground, so I tried to jump it, but I hit the concrete super hard with the rear wheel, so the rear wheel and deraileur were completely destroyed,” Seewald said.
“There was no way to continue, which was super sad because I felt quite good, but on the other hand I’m just glad that I managed to avoid a crash, and I’m happy with my performance until that point. It’s racing and it happens,” he added.
“Nine years ago I was second and now I was so close to victory, so I would say I’m even more motivated to come back again,” he said.
Nina Holtrup won the solo women’s race after finishing more than eight minutes ahead of Anri Greeff, while Yolande de Villiers of South Africa,came third.
Greeff, de Villiers and Belinda van Rhyn soon pulled away from the pack, opening up a gap of more than 10 minutes on fourth-placed Holtrup after about 100km.
Greeff pulled away from the others, building up a lead of about 15 minutes on De Villiers after about 170km, but Holtrup started improving as the race wore on. She passed Van Rhyn into third place close to the halfway mark, and then gradually reeled De Villiers and Greeff in to comfortably win the title in 17:00:04, with Greeff more than eight minutes behind in 17:08:22, and De Villiers third in 17:33:11.
It was the first time that Holtrup had won the Dash, after coming second in 2023, and she said it was an amazing feeling.
“I cant describe it. I struggled on stage one up Kupfererg where I lost a lot of time, and the legs killed me. But then I started catching them, like the pacman, I caught them one by one at each stage,” she said.
“I come from the coast, so the altitude and heat is not my thing. I knew I had the legs from the halfway point and that is what I did, I caught them one by one. I took so many salt tablets, and I was constantly eating and drinking,” she added.
Prize money
Coetzee and Holtrup received N$40 000 each for winning their events, while the second-placed riders received N$23 000 each, and the third-placed riders N$16 000 each. Cyclists down to tenth position in the men’s solo race, and fifth position in the women’s solo race received cash prizes.
The total prize money exceeded half a million dollars, with the top three riders in the following categories receiving prize money:
Solo men and women over 50; 2-person men, 2-person women and 2-person mixed teams; 4-person men, 4-person women, and 4-person mixed teams; Half-Dash solo men and women; and Half Dash 2-person men, women and mixed teams.
A total of 126 solo riders completed the race within the 24-hour cut-off time.
Nedbank Desert Dash recent champions
Solo Men
2025 Drikus Coetzee
2024 Konny Looser
2023 Konny Looser
2022 Drikus Coetzee
2021 Tristan de Lange
2020 Konny Looser
Solo Women
2025 Nina Holtrup
2024 Belinda van Rhyn
2023 Belinda van Rhyn
2022 Yolande de Villiers
2021 Irene Steyn
2020 Irene Steyn
The 2025 results are as follows:
Nedbank Desert Dash Results
Solo men
1 Drikus Coetzee 14:13:32
2 Jaques Hanekom 15:47:43
3 Martin Freyer 15:47:45
4 Ananias Ananias 15:54:41
5 Nico Sterk 16:03:57
Solo women
1 Nina Holtrup 17:00:04
2 Anri Greeff 17:08:22
3 Yolande de Villiers 17:33:11
4 Belinda van Rhyn 18:23:53
5 Helene Bam 18:36:17
Solo men +50
1 Stephan Schoeman 17:04:36
2 Therald Murch 17:39:41
3 Charlie Leidel 17:48:25
Solo women +50
1 Yolande de Villiers 17:33:11
2 Wilmien Chamberlain 20:37:59
3 Romy Stotz 21:20:36
Two-person category
1 Hollard Life (Danzel de Koe & Andre Vermeulen) 15:08:22
2 Insect Science Sterk Span (Alan Gordon & Allan Britnell) 15:08:50
3 Cymot Racing 2 Man (Murray Koch & Marcel Henle) 15:22:19
Four-person category
1 Cymot Racing Men 12:56:27
(Marco Thiel, Daniel van der Walt, Blaine Kieck, Herman Fourie)
2 Hollard Men Elite 12:58:35
Roger Suren, Ingram Cuff, Theuns van der Westhuizen, Adrian Key)
3 Mannie’s Bike Mecca 13:01:08
Nathan Chase, Daniel Abraham, Xavier Papo, Christiaan van der Westhuizen)
Half Dash Solo
1 Pieter Praetorius 9:01:24
2 Stefan van Doorn 9:03:17
3 Klaus Frielingsdorf 9:06:20
Half Dash Two-Person
1 Team Cathy (Frank Klosta & Jaco Snyman) 7:42:22
2 Bunny Chasers (Greg Chase & Marcel Suren) 7:49:24
3 FSN & Prosure (Frans Anthonie Gerber & Nick du Plessis) 8:14:40
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