Champions Brad Gouveris and Anriette Schoeman are ready for the challenges of early-season racing when they defend their titles in the Bestmed Makro Championship in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Cyclists will have a chance to return to action after the winter months when the feature 106km road race takes place this weekend, followed by the 70km mountain-bike event on September 16.<\/p>\n
The road events, which cater for riders of all levels, will start and finish at the Lorraine Primary School, while the mountain-bike races will take place in the Hopewell Conservation Estate at St Albans, just outside Port Elizabeth.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old Gouveris, who rides for the Nelson Mandela University club, won his first Makro title last year and admitted it would be tough trying to repeat that success.<\/p>\n
“Obviously I would love to defend the title,” he said. “That is always the goal and it is the reason we race.<\/p>\n
“I know that it’s never easy to emulate the success of the previous year, but I am excited about this opportunity and to see how the race unfolds.”<\/p>\n
He added that his training was on track, but that you never quite knew the level of your fitness until you competed in the more intense environment of a race.<\/p>\n
With sprinting as his strength, Gouveris said he was looking forward to a route which suited his style.<\/p>\n
“I’m a light rider and I have a sprint on me,” he said. “I am not a climber, but I can handle going up drags and this is the kind of course which doesn’t have any really long hills.<\/p>\n
“It is more of a punchier type of race, with short, steep little drags – which does help my style of riding.”<\/p>\n
He added, however, that every race had its own challenges and that he was not expecting an easy race.<\/p>\n
“Locally there are some really good competitors. I am not sure who is going to be there, but I will just be focusing on what I can do and adapt to the challenges as they happen.”<\/p>\n
Women’s champion Schoeman has been the dominant factor among the females, winning 17 out of 18 titles since the tour’s inception in 2000.<\/p>\n
Despite that lengthy string of successes, the 41-year-old PE star said she remained motivated to produce her best each time she raced.<\/p>\n
“My cycling career has always been performance-driven and I enjoy winning races,” said the Africa Silks-Bestmed rider.<\/p>\n
“To achieve that I am prepared to push myself beyond my limits, knowing that the harder I train, the better I can do.”<\/p>\n
She added that she had slightly changed her perspective of racing over the years, with a stronger focus on achieving consistency.<\/p>\n
“When there are occasions that I may not be able to win the race, I now want to make sure I get on the podium.<\/p>\n
“Having said that, winning is still the ultimate goal when I stand on the start line. I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t think I could win and that is still my motivation after all these years.”<\/p>\n
Schoeman added she had a particular affinity with the Makro race as it was an occasion for the women to ride with the elite men’s category.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes when it’s just women, you will just watch each other for 80km and then it ends up in a sprint for the line.<\/p>\n
“When you ride with the guys, the strongest [women] riders will end up in the front and then fight it out on the line, so that is something I enjoy.”<\/p>\n
Besides the feature race, which starts at 7am, the road programme offers a number of options, with additional distances over 55km and 35km. There are also 5km and 10km events for children, plus a 1km kiddies’ dash.<\/p>\n
Entries close at midnight on Monday, September 3, and registration will take place at Lorraine Primary School from 4pm to 7pm on Friday.<\/p>\n
The mountain-bike programme has additional events over 35km, 20km and 10km. Entries close at midnight on September 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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