The race, which took place from 18 to 21 March, is a multi-stage mountain bike cycling and trail-running event, presented by AfriAdventures in conjunction with the Clocolan cycling community. Participants choose to run or cycle, although there is one combined race.
Jantjie Maarman, one of the development runners, raced to an overall win in the long run, beating Andrea Biffi by a comfortable three minutes.
There are 13 different race categories, said Stroebel, with the flagship being the four-stage, long-distance cycling contest. This year, Team SAFDEV (Henry Uys and Barend Burger) won the event, which took place over four days. Though they didn’t always claim stages, their consistency pulled them through.
But it was the running that took Stroebel’s breath away. First, Maarman took the podium for the long-distance trail run, also a four-day, four-stage race (5.8km, 18.8km, 17.9km and 9.1km); then his teammates did superbly in the women’s long-distance race – Ntsoaki Ntlangoe and Rebecca Koao came in second and third respectively. The winner and queen of the mountains was Adel Terblanche.
The 3Mountains Challenge – or should we say challenges? – is still in development, a fact Stroebel says many like. “Loads of people told us they enjoy the fact that the race is of a high standard, but they don’t have to fight past 500 people to get to the front.”
The race weekend has grown from 2014’s 68 participants to this year’s 335 (270 cyclists; 65 runners). “Last year we had 334 participants, so the race hasn’t grown much in numbers, but the quality of the field was way more intense this year,” said Stroebel.
Some of South Africa’s top professional riders took part this year: Team SAFDEV, Team Jeep SA (Pierre Smith and Armand du Randt), Team LCB Racing (Arno du Toit and Edwill O’Neill), Team Cycling Box (Dusty and Tyler Day), Ace-The Sufferfest Lesotho MTB Team (Malefetsane Lesofe and Tumelo Makae). “This was by far the most competitive field of riders we have ever had at the 3Mountains event,” said Stroebel.
“Most of all we would like to thank Hollard, our main partner, for their huge contribution. Not only in monetary terms but also for their branding, which contributed immensely to the festive vibe and the professional look at the race village,” he said.
Hollard's branding added to the festive atmosphere at the 2017 3Mountains Challenge, said, Stroebel. (Image: 3Mountains)
Are you following us on Twitter and LinkedIn for real-time updates?
