Words and photos by Sipho Madolo.
The Diamant Estate, in Paarl, hosted the WP XCO MTB Championships on the 18th of May. This is a new venue for Cross Country racing and the new course didn’t disappoint. I walked the course while our kids were practicing, just to make sure they take the best lanes. I’ve raced pretty much all the XCO Tracks in the country and this one I honestly think is the best XCO track by far. It has got a bit of everything and it’s fun technical course, not dangerous, but you still have to concentrate the entire time. I think the guys did an excellent job there!
Safe but technical trails at the Diamant Estate.
With Lakhanya having broken arm and Asabonga’s heavy crash in training ride on Thursday we ended up with six kids racing; but was still cool to have the two injured riders supporting on the day. We had kids racing in almost all the categories, Sprogs, Sub-juniors, Youth and Junior. The kids had a really good day of racing and had so much fun; even though we didn’t have a podium on the day.
All-in-all was a good day for all the kids and they had a lot of fun, even though the suffering is part of the XCO racing package. It’s something I always tell them, to enjoy suffering if they want to do well!
The route twisted and turned through the granite boulders, for which Paarl is famous.
A big thanks goes to the Western Province Mountain Biking Commission for making these events possible for our kids; and to Investec, Specialized and all other songo.info sponsors for the support!
The next event for our kids is the Spur MTB Schools’ League on the 8th of June.
