Africa-Press – Namibia. ALEX Miller and Luanne van der Schyff were crowned Namibia’s national mountain bike champions on Saturday when they won the Elite men and women’s titles at the Nedbank National Xco Championships.
For Miller, who is still only 20 years old, it was his third national title in a row, but it was the first time Van der Schyff won the title. Miller, competing in Namibia for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics where he came 31st, dominated the Elite men’s race, as he immediately pulled away from the rest of the field at the IJG Trails at Farm Windhoek.
He eventually won the six-lap race in one hour 23 minutes 54 seconds to finish nearly three minutes ahead of Hugo Hahn (1:26:45), while Xavier Papo came third in 1:33:07. Afterwards, Miller said his race had gone smoothly from the start.
“It was a good race from the beginning and everything went well. I tried to stay smooth on the downhills and pushing on the uphills and everything went smoothly,” he said.
“It was nice with all the support here and hearing my name being shouted around the track. So, it went well and I’m happy to defend the title,” he added. Reflecting on the Olympics, he said it was an honour to represent his country.
“It was a very special event. It’s always a privilege to represent Namibia on the international stage, so I felt privileged to be able to wear the national jersey there,” he said, adding that he was now determined to once again qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“Yes, definitely, that’s the main goal in three years’ time in Paris, I’m definitely aiming towards that,” he said.
“At the moment, I’m still waiting for a visa to return to Europe for the last few races of the year (with his European team Trek Vaude), and then I’ll come back home to do the Desert Dash in December,” he added.
In the Elite women’s race, Van der Schyff of Walvis Bay won the title, finishing more than two minutes ahead of Nicola Fester. Van der Schyff was, however, aided by Fester’s misfortune, as the latter took an early lead but then crashed on the third lap, to be overtaken by Van der Schyff.
Fester battled on bravely, but Van der Schyff increased her lead to win the four-lap race in one hour 20 minutes 22 seconds, with Fester second in 1:22:50 and Marion Shonecke third in 1:28:18. It was the first time that Van der Schyff had won the national title and she said she had a score to settle.
“It means a lot to me to win this title. In 2018, I had a huge crash at the national championships and had to leave in an ambulance. So, the goal was just to finish the race today, and it’s nice to walk away with the title,” she said.
“It was quite hot and windy and it’s difficult to breathe in Windhoek, but I had a lot of fun and it’s a great track,” she added.
Eighteen-year-old Monique du Plessis, however, stole the show in the women’s race, as she was the overall winner, finishing more than five minutes ahead of Van der Schyff in 1:14:59, to win the Junior Women’s category.
Bergran Jensen dominated the junior men’s category over five laps, winning in 1:17:39, followed by Ethan Léstrange (1:27:14) and Anton Engling (1:35:20), while Ananias Tamati won the Sub-veteran men’s category over four laps in 1:08:47, followed by Axel Foerster (1:12:19). The complete results are at raceday.events.
