The highlight of the past six weeks was undoubtedly the performance by our cyclists in the Coronation Double Century, the WP Road Championships and Die Burger Cycle Tour.
From a club perspective, the three New Balance Multisport Club cycling teams – all kitted out in their new red, black and white tops – caught the eyes of everybody at the grueling Coronation Double Century (DC) cycle race over 204km in November. Well drilled, well prepared and with their strategies in place, the three teams, under the leadership of captains Pieter Joubert, Richard Peet and Wernich Meyer, started the race in Swellendam, each rider with a clear goal in mind.
Out of all the teams, NBMC Team 3 impressed everybody! Considering that not one of the riders had any DC experience going into the event, the fact that they had covered the same distance in training as Team 1 had over a period of 18 weeks, made their successful completion of the race so much more meaningful. Says Cycling Captain Pieter Joubert: "They never complained and always believed that their team (all 10 of them) could finish the DC inside the cut-off time of 10.5 hours. Well, they beat their target by over an hour and they all finished together!"
The NBMC teams comprised the following cyclists:
Team 1: Pieter Joubert (captain), Schalk du Plessis, Doepie du Plessis, Chris John Beukman, David John van der Merwe, Johan Steyn, Japie Bingle, Gideon Knobel, Francois Viljoen and Jaco de Jager.
Team 2: Richard Peet (captain), Cedric Scwerin, Axel Unger, Marianne Unger, Anelma van Rensburg, Achmed Giesler, Vanessa Giesler, Kathy Forssman, Stephan Betz and Louis Steyn.
Team 3: Wernich Meyer (captain), Dave Ronquest, Grant January, Nico Claase, Nichol Luttig, Anzel Brink, Annemie Cloete, Karin Bosman and Kindy Theunissen.
With a bit of firepower from outside, the Cape Town Market Team clinched the DC with last year's winners, the Daikin GU Elite Team, in second place. The Daikin GU Vets Team also had a great ride and completed the race in less than six hours.
The club has three new WP Road Cycling Champs - Stefan Ihlenfeldt (U-23) and Paul Meinking (Masters) and to Sarel Louw who is the 2011 Elite Time Trial Champion.
Riding in the colours of Daikin GU, Charles Solomon won the sub vet category of Die Burger Cycle Tour in fine style.
Cape Town Market’s Anton Wynand and Theuns van der Bank came first and second respectively in the Al-Alzhar Institute Cycle Race. A week later it was Theuns van der Bank’s turn to win a race when he clinched the West Coast Mall Lagoon Cycle Challenge. Anton Wynand finished in second place.
The Pro Classic Spring Cycle League prize giving was held recently. Team Daikin GU were crowned champions of the Pro Classic Spring series in the elite men's section. The Daikin GU Sub Vet and Vets teams won their categories respectively.
