Paul van Woudenberg : Mountain biking
Dutch-born athlete Bas de Bever has claimed his greatest downhill mountain biking victory in Stellenbosch, the serene town Afrikaners see as their cultural home.
This time last year, he hurtled down the vineyard-clad slopes of Botmaskop, about a kilometre east of Die Moederkerk in the centre of town, to win first place in the first round of the 1997 Grundig/UCI Mountain bike World Cup Series. This week, he and a host of adrenalin-powered, kamikaze international mountain bikers are flocking in their hundreds to the town, which has become, in the last two years, to the bemusement of many of its citizens, a significant venue on the international mountain biking circuit, and a mountain biking Mecca to South Africans.
Stellenbosch hosted this stage of the downhill mountain biking World Cup Series for the first time in 1997. This weekend, building on the experience, the Grundig UCI Stellenbosch Organisers (Gusto) are doing it again. They have jacked-up the running of the event, and have also improved the course, which in the opinion of many riders last year, could have been more challenging. The first half of the course, originally laid out by Meurant Botha, has been kept pretty much the same, but the second part has been rerouted to increase its technical difficulty,
Since last year, there has been a steady pilgrimage to Botmaskop, at the entrance of the Jonkershoek Valley, by local mountain-bikers who try their skill on a down-hill track, endorsed and ridden by international stars – their heroes.
Last year, De Bever completed the 3,72km course in a time just short of four minutes and 56 seconds, at an average speed of almost 46 km/h, beating German Jurgen Beneker and the Spaniard champion Tomas Misser, into second and third place. He is hoping to repeat his success on Sunday, the day of the international trial.
“The feeling arriving at the airport was pretty exciting, my knowing I could win again, but also knowing I am coming back to a venue where my self-confidence will be high, despite the fact that the course has been changed somewhat from last year’s,” said De Bever, shortly after arriving in Stellenbosch mid-week. A five-times BMX world champion, De Bever has a reputation for being one of the most decent mountain bikers on the circuit
For those amused by international downhill mountain-bikers – a quirky bunch by all standards – Sunday is the day to see them in action on the slope of Botmaskop. The women’s and men’s finals will take place in the afternoon, after a run-up of trials over the weekend.
While the final is probably the most exciting event, there is also a citizen’s race for locals, a “dual” World Cup event, and bike trials in which skilled cyclists display their agility. Sunday’s finals will be beamed live to European fans by Eurosport TV at the weekend.
ENDS