Africa-Press – Namibia. ALEX Miller gave a superb performance to win the Nedbank XC UCI MTB race at the IJG Trails on Saturday.
Miller covered the six-lap Elite Men’s category in one hour 39 minutes 32 seconds, to finish nearly four minutes ahead of South Africa’s Johan van Zyl (1:43:22), while Australia’s u23 champion and former world junior champion Cameron Wright came third in 1:45:38.
Top South African rider Mariska Strauss dominated the Elite women’s category, winning the five lap race in 1:35:18, with Namibia’s Monique du Plessis coming second nearly 20 minutes behind in 1:54:39, while Nicola Fester came third.
The event served as a warmup for the African XC MTB Championships that Namibia will host at the same venue in two weeks time, and Miller’s performance on Saturday, certainly augurs well for the continental championships.
After the race he said he was happy with his performance.
“It was a really good day for me, I felt good from the beginning and it was really good to have Cameron from Australia and Johan from South Africa racing with us; it really raises the level of the sport here and gives us some good competition,” he said.
“I went full out from the first lap and managed to get a gap and then I tried to push the pace and opened the gap further till the end,” he added.
Miller said he was in good shape and looking forward to the African Championships.
“I’m feeling good, the training is going well, so all I can do is focus on my training and hope that I pull it off. I’m aiming to win the gold medal, it’s always the aim of course, and it would be really good if I can pull it off, but there will definitely be some strong guys in the field, so I’ll have my work cut out, but Im looking forward to it,” he said.
Wright, who won the World Junior XC Championships in 2017, said he struggled with the conditions.
“It was super hard with the dryness and the heat. Normally I’m fine with the heat coming from Australia, but it’s a bit more humid there, so the dryness in the air hits the lungs hard as well as the altitude. I’m not used to racing this high up so I knew it would be a tough ride,” he said.
“It was just a matter of staying on the bike and being consistent, and I’m pretty happy with my performance and kudos to Alex and Johan for a solid ride as well,” he added.
Wright said it was a last minute decision to come to Namibia.
“Actually it wasn’t planned to come to Namibia. I was spending two months in Cape Town and I was meant to race last week in Coetzenburg, but that got cancelled due to some adverse weather, so Alex let me know that there was a race happening here. It was a last minute decision but I decided to jump on the plane and come here because I had nothing else to do. Well actually I did, I was invited to a good mate of mine’s wedding in Durban, but work called so I came out here and I’m pretty happy with that decision. It’s an awesome venue, the people are awesome and I’m just happy to be riding my bike,” he said.
Kevin Lowe won the Junior Men’s category over four laps after another great tussle with Daniel Hahn. Lowe won the four-lap race in 1:08:53, with Hahn finishing second 10 seconds behind and Ernest Roets third in 1:15:04.
Ada Kahl won the Junior Women’s category over three laps in 1:10:10, followed by Lotte Beulker in 1:13:18.
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