Photo by Brad Stow.
On Saturday 18 May, Brad Stow and Ntlantla Nonkasa accompanied seven songo.info riders to Bloemendal wine farm, in Durbanville, to take part in a WP XCO provincial race. songo.info was represented by the following riders: Ntlantla Nonkasa, Mihlali Stuurman, Ovayo Ntsege, Zizo Tshingana, Uviwe Tshali, Lakhanya Skhobongwane, Likho Mayekiso, and Khanya Xhapha.
Mihlali Stuurman raced to second in the Nippers Boys category. Photo by Brad Stow.
We arrived early so that everyone could do a quick practice lap and I could register the kids and make sure everyone was prepared for the days racing. The first songo kid to race was Mihlali Stuurman who competes in the nipper boys category. He had another great race and managed to finish 2nd in an exciting sprint to the finish line. This was his best result on a MTB and the highlight of the day for the songo.info team. It was great to see the support he received from the other songo kids as well as his fellow competitors and their families
Mihlali Stuurman is popular among his Nipper rivals too. Photo by Brad Stow.
Khanya, Likho, Lakhanya and Uviwe all had a tough time on the bike but all four managed to finish and will hopefully come back stronger. Ovayo unfortunately suffered a punctured on his first lap which we couldn’t repair so his race was over.
Ntlantla Nonkasa went XCO racing too. Photo by Brad Stow.
The last race of the day was the Elite men. We managed to get Ntlantla a last minute entry and he was very excited to line up next to Zizo and the rest of the Elite men. The level of riding was very high but they both managed to get respectable results. They seemed to enjoy themselves as much as you possibly can – XCO racing is not easy!
All smiles post race. Photo by Brad Stow.
I feel it was a successful day for the songo.info team. In the future I would like to do more XCO specific training with the kids so that they are able to handle the intensity of this format. All in all it was a good day. Everyone behaved themselves and the team represented songo.info proudly. A massive thank you to Ninety One and Specialized Bicycles for their continued support. Without them none of this would have been possible. I would also like to thank WP MTB for helping us with entries. It is greatly appreciated.