{"id":42560,"date":"2021-09-14T19:44:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T17:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=42560"},"modified":"2021-09-14T19:44:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T17:44:12","slug":"heyns-lill-crowned-2021-fedhealth-mtb-challenge-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/cycling\/heyns-lill-crowned-2021-fedhealth-mtb-challenge-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Heyns, Lill crowned 2021 Fedhealth MTB Challenge Champions!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gert Heyns and Candice Lill claimed gold in the Marathon (+-58km) Distance of the 6th<\/sup> annual Fedhealth MTB Challenge that took place at the beautiful Blaauwklippen Wine Estate on Sunday 12 September 2021 amidst wet and muddy conditions.<\/p>\n

The Fedhealth MTB Challenge Marathon<\/strong> consisted of a +-58km route that boasted a total climb of 1200m.\u00a0 Riders got to experience smooth open road climbs, lots of single track and technical (but smooth) descents.\u00a0 Although there was a fair amount of climbing, the rewards were sweet with moderate technical play on the way down.<\/p>\n

Gert Heyns (Stellenbosch) celebrated his Fedhealth MTB Challenge debut by claiming gold in the Marathon in an impressive time of 02 hours 23 minutes 03 seconds.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to race on our local trails,\u201d says Heyns.\u00a0 \u201cIt was quite a tough start on rocky trails above G-spot.\u00a0 Arno and I managed to get away.\u00a0 Every time I would get a gap, he\u2019d manage to catch up again.\u00a0 I managed to get a small gab going up the climb at Ernie Els.\u00a0 From there I could hold it to the finish.\u00a0 It was a fun route, not too tough with lots of single track.\u00a0 It\u2019s great to win.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t too many races this year, so it\u2019s special to be able to get a win.\u00a0 I\u2019ll definitely be back next year.\u201d\u00a0 Arno du Toit came in second, while Keagan Bontekoning finished third.<\/p>\n

Candice Lill (Cape Town) was dominant in the women\u2019s race claiming gold in 02 hours 45 minutes 03 seconds.\u00a0 \u201cStarting with the guys, I knew that it was going to be a fast day out,\u201d says Lill.\u00a0 \u201cI haven\u2019t done a marathon or 60km race in a while as I\u2019ve been doing cross-country racing, so I was just going to go as hard as I could and see if I could maintain it.\u00a0 I managed to finish strong.\u00a0 The route was really fun.\u00a0 There was a threat of rain in the beginning, but it only started raining at about halfway and it didn\u2019t affect the trails.\u00a0 It was a nice punchy course.\u00a0 The climbs weren\u2019t too long, just as you started getting tired, there was nice single track.\u00a0 It felt awesome to cross the finish line first.\u00a0 It\u2019s really cool to be able to race again.\u00a0 This is my first in a while and I really enjoyed it.\u201d\u00a0 Lucy Larkan came in second, while Mari Rabie finished third.<\/p>\n

The Fedhealth MTB Challenge Half Marathon<\/strong> covered a +-28km distance and boasted a total 580m climb.\u00a0 The terrain\u00a0featured good gradient climbs and beautiful\u00a0views.<\/p>\n

Vincent Buter (Somerset West) took the lead in the men\u2019s race claiming gold in 01 hour 01 minute 09 seconds.\u00a0 \u201cToday\u2019s race was really nice,\u201d says Buter.\u00a0 \u201cIt was dry for approximately the first 15km, then the rain came down.\u00a0 It got really muddy, but<\/p>\n

it was super quick.\u00a0 There were a couple of steep climbs.\u00a0 It\u2019s a short distance, so I just went flat out from the start.\u00a0 I\u00a0broke away on the first climb and nobody stuck with me.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s really rewarding to cross the finish line in first place.\u00a0 All the<\/p>\n

hard work and training is paying off.\u00a0 The event was well organised.\u00a0 I like these trails.\u00a0 They\u2019re my local trails and it was so much fun.\u201d\u00a0 Lood Goosen came in second, while Jean-Pierre du Plessis finished third.<\/p>\n

Angeliq Coetzer (Grabouw) was on fire in the women\u2019s race claiming gold in 01 hour 22 minutes 53 seconds.\u00a0 \u201cThe route was quite tough, but fun,\u201d says Coetzer.\u00a0 \u201cIt was shorter than the normal routes that I do, but it was a tough short one.\u00a0 Today I<\/p>\n

just wanted to ride my own pace.\u00a0 My legs didn\u2019t feel as strong as they usually do, but I pushed as hard as I could.\u00a0 It means a lot to finish first because I trained really hard.\u00a0 I\u2019ll definitely come back next year.\u00a0 It\u2019s a really nice race and I love the vibe.\u201d\u00a0 Corli de Bruyn came in second, while Christine Woods finished third.<\/p>\n

Says Jeremy Yatt, Fedhealth Principal Officer: \u201cFollowing the restrictions of the past two years, I don\u2019t think any of us will ever take outdoor sports events, such as our Fedhealth MTB Challenge, for granted again. We truly enjoyed hosting this event at the beautiful Blaauwklippen Estate this weekend, and welcoming riders of all ages and fitness levels back to the tracks. As a medical scheme, we will always be advocates of a healthy, active lifestyle and we hope to sponsor many more events of this nature in future.\u201d<\/p>\n

PRIZE PURSE<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0 The 6th<\/sup> annual Fedhealth MTB Challenge boasted a whopping R30\u00a0000 prize purse for the Marathon (+-58km).\u00a0 The Overall Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s winners each took home R5000, with R3000 going to second place and R2000 to third place.\u00a0 A percentage of the prize purse was also allocated to the top three finishers in the following categories:\u00a0 Senior Men and Women, Sub Vet Men and Women, Vet Men and Women, Master Men and Women and Grandmaster Men and Women.\u00a0 To view the <\/strong>Prize Purse Breakdown<\/strong> visit:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/www.stillwatersports.com\/fedhealth-mtb-challenge-prize-purse\/<\/a><\/p>\n

CHARITY SUPPORT<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong> The Fedhealth MTB Challenge proudly supports The Kindness Collaboration.\u00a0 Founded by Fedhealth and Operation Healing Hands (OHH), The Kindness Collaboration focuses on supporting South Africans who cannot afford quality medical care.\u00a0 Mountain bikers could make a donation towards the cause when entering the event online.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>For more information or to make a direct donation towards The Kindness Collaboration visit https:\/\/www.fedhealth.co.za\/kindness-collaboration\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong> Fedhealth Medical Aid \/ Stillwater MTB Events<\/p>\n

Instagram<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong> @fedhealthmed \/ @stillwater_mtb_events<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information on the Fedhealth MTB Challenge, contact Stillwater Sports on 082\u00a0991 0045, email entries@stillwatersports.com<\/a> or visit www.stillwatersports.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Gert<\/a>
Gert Heyns and Candice Lill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gert Heyns and Candice Lill claimed gold in the Marathon (+-58km) Distance of the 6th annual Fedhealth MTB Challenge that took place at the beautiful Blaauwklippen Wine Estate on Sunday 12 September 2021 amidst wet and muddy conditions. The Fedhealth MTB Challenge Marathon consisted of a +-58km route that boasted a total climb of 1200m.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260],"tags":[2357,2726,2725,2720,2727],"class_list":["post-42560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-candice-lill","tag-fedhealth","tag-fedhealth-mtb-challenge","tag-gert-heyns","tag-mtb-challenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}