MTN Amashova 2010

It was the 17th of October and the event most, if not all, Kwazulu-Natal based cyclists had been training for was here. Amashova is pretty much the “Argus” of Kwazulu-Natal although it only attracts about a 5th of the amount of entrants from all over the country. The Mr Price KZN Vets team was represented by Werner Moolman, Mark Davel, Norvyn Pitout, Gwyn Pine, Iven Scharein and me (Emile Fouche). Some of the other teams present were Fego Cafe and Team Computer Smith.

After a week of rainy days the weather gods played along perfectly and allowed us to have a dry start when the gun was sounded for the 52 cyclists in the VA group to leave start the pins at 7h00am in the morning. For weeks we have either been dreading, or anticipating Fox Hill as that is the place where the bunch would be split up. As we started ascending on Fox Hill Mark had a mechanical and had to pull out of the race. He was only too happy that the mechanical was near the bottom of the hill and not after he went over the top. As we were climbing the hill there were a whole lot of attacks from especially Jaco Ferreira and Julius Cobbett from TCS but all of those attacks were covered.

At the top of Fox hill we still had four team members in the bunch as Werner, Gwyn, Norvyn and me managed to get over. From the Thornville road to the bottom of Inchanga it was hard racing with attack after attack happening but they were all pulled back. Werner got into a move going up Inchanga and Gwyn, Norvyn and me just had to follow the wheels of the riders trying to catch them. It was mostly together again at the bottom of Alverstone and going up the hill I rolled to the front to try and control the pace with Deno van Heerden from Fego Cafe. Unfortunately we lost Norvyn and Gwyn on that hill but Werner and I were still left with the front bunch.

Going down Botha’s Hill and into Cassier Road Werner managed to get a gap on the bunch with one of the TCS riders but they were pulled back by the time we reached the M13. From Cassier road to 45th cutting there was some hard racing taking place with one or two attacks almost getting away but then being pulled back by Werner, me and some other riders rotating to share the workload. Going passed Pinetown and through Westville Werner told me just to keep rotating with Matt Goetsch and Rowan Tyler from Fego Cafe to keep the tempo going and try to prevent Jaco and Julius from attacking. As we were nearing 45th cutting Werner told me to watch Julius but as we hit the bump going towards Tollgate bridge my legs exploded like the Christmas fireworks show in Welkom and I got dropped from the bunch, leaving Werner to fend for himself. Sean Merredew made a huge comeback overtaking me on Tollgate bridge and riding himself back to the bunch just before it was time for the sprint.

Sean Merredew (Mr Price Club member) won the sprint with Jaco Ferreira (TCS) in second and Carl Lotter (Northcliff cycles) in third. Werner finished in 6th position and I had a solo ride to the finish in 12th postion. Iven, Gwyn and Norvyn crossed the finish line in the next bunch.

Even though we did not feature on the podium, it was good hard racing by the whole team.