Cyclists tackle Aus mountains with ease
The elite men’s winning trio pose for a picture. Raul Costa Seibeb (left) took the win, followed by Herbert Peters (right) and Heinrich Kohne.
The race through the Aus Mountains marked the beginning of this year’s KIA MTB series which was spread out over two days.
The event was sponsored by Standard Bank, Kia Namibia, Maerua Superspar and Gondwana Collection. Nearly 100 cyclists from across the country took part.
During the first race, Seibeb, who had some great success since the beginning of the season, made his intentions clear as he came in first after 3:35:22 hours. Young Herbert Peters followed a good distance behind (3:41:25). On the following day Sunday, Seibeb repeated his near perfect performance, clocking in at an almost identical 3:35:11. With a combined time of 7:10:33 hours, Seibeb celebrated another win in 2015. Peters had to settle in a total time of 7:19:57.
In the women’s division, Steyn was capable of an even more impressive victory. She already led the field (4:19:43) 40 minutes ahead of Hester Prins (4:59:00) after day one. The following day, Steyn continued where she left off, finishing the gruelling 70 km in 4:20:36 giving her an extraordinary total of 7:54:50. Prins held on to the second overall place (9:57:10).
The sub-veteran men’s class was won by Philip Steyn (7:54:50), while Heino Windisch (8:06:19) and Heino Boois (10:57:32) had to settle for second and third place respectively.
Ian Grassow was the top rider in the men’s veteran class with 8:10:40, securing the first place. Hilko Marschall (9:21:44) came in second and Steve Prinsloo (9:41:56) third.
In other action, the juniors also went head-to-head on a track that many consider to be the scenically most spectacular in the entire Namibian race calendar. Armin Schonmarz won the junior men’s half marathon (2 times 35 km) in 3:50:37. Alexander Miller followed in second (4:11:36) and Thomas Miller in third (4:30:25).
Meanwhile Anke Janik was victorious in the junior women’s race. She clocked in at 5:12:31 after the two days, leaving Lara Winterbach (5:35:37) and Desiree Erwig (6:17:17) behind her.
