Media Release: Xterra Knysna 2008

MEDIA RELEASE 

(PHOTO CREDIT:  www.oakpics.com)

HUGO AND BOMFORD SHINE AT DUESOUTH XTERRA KNYSNA

Top South African XTERRA athletes Dan Hugo and Jeannie Bomford started the XTERRA South Africa racing season off with a bang on Thursday, 10 July 2008 when they competed in the first leg of the action-packed 2008/2009 DUESOUTH XTERRA presented by Nissan at the beautiful PEZULA Private Estate.

Hugo crossed the finish line in 01hour41minutes, securing himself a first place position in the individual men’s category of the event.  Hugo specifically returned home this week to compete in Knysna after spending just over three months racing in America and Europe.  According to Hugo, his fitness level is not where he’d like it to be and had he not won he would still have been happy just to compete.  “Today’s race was really nice, it was a perfect Winter’s day with no rain nor wind.  I did the first run a little faster than I would have liked to in order to keep up with all the other athletes.  Due to the recent rain, the mountain-bike route was wet and slippery, just the way I like it, more challenging.  The last run was stunning with trails in the forest and at some point I could see the sea.  It was great taking part on home ground again and just being able to understand what the supporters were shouting was amazing.  It was really special to see how XTERRA has grown in South Africa and the event organisers really did a great job, the standard of organising is definitely on par with that of the overseas events,” says Hugo. 

Jan Schutte came in second with a time of 01hours42minutes07seconds, while Nico Pfitzenmaier (Germany) finished third with a time of 01hours44minutes47seconds. 

Jeannie Bomford crossed the finish line in 01hours53minutes01second, securing herself a first place position in the individual women’s category of the event.  According to Bomford she had a great race and is really happy with her performance on the day.  “My performance today combined with my performance at the 2007/2008 DUESOUTH XTERRA SA Championships held in April this year really makes me feel that I am finally getting my form.  I had such a brilliant race and definitely feel that the duathlon style XTERRA is much more difficult than the regular triathlon style as it’s harder on the legs.  I had a great race and will definitely compete at the next South African XTERRAs in March and April,” says Bomford.  Michelle Lombardi came in second with a time of 02hours02minutes25seconds, while Debbie Gerrand finished third with a time of 02hours12minutes52seconds. 

First place in the DUESOUTH XTERRA men’s team category went to team New Balance M&M, while team Trial & Error came first in the women’s team category.  The top three places in the individual men’s category of the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE went to Andries Louw, Patrick Baranskky and Herman Carstens, while the first three places in the individual women’s category went to Annmart Laubscher, Angi Stanford and Aneen Kock.  Team Robertson came first in the team category of the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE.

The DUESOUTH XTERRA Knysna featured two disciplines where individual athletes or teams of two could tackle the challenge of the XTERRA, which consisted of a 3km trail run, 25km mountain bike and 10km trail run.  Newcomers to the sport competed either as individuals or in 2-member teams in the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE, which consisted of a three disciplines, namely a 3km trail run, 12km mountain bike and 3 km trail run. 

Athletes will be able to enjoy a well-deserved rest before the 2^nd leg of the 2008/2009 DUESOUTH XTERRA presented by Nissan kicks off on Saturday, 21 March 2009 at Buffelspoort Dam (North West Province).

For more information on the DUESOUTH XTERRA presented by Nissan, race rules or on-line entries please contact Stillwater Sports Marketing on (021) 883 - 2413 or e-mail info@stillwatersports.com. 

RESULTS

DUESOUTH XTERRA INDIVIDUAL MEN

Surname     Name     Category1     Finish Time
1    HUGO     DAN     X M20-24     1:39:50
2    SCHUTTE     JAN     X M25-29     1:42:07
3    PFITZENMAIER     NICO     X M35-39     1:44:47
4    JACOBS     PIET     X M30-34     1:47:04
5    VAN AARDENNE     CAS     X M30-34     1:47:21
6    VAN RENSBURG     JACQUES     X M40-44     1:51:40
7    BEUKES     GERRIE     X M35-39     1:54:02
8    BAARD     DERRICK     X M35-39     1:55:03
9    GRAY     JUSTIN     X M25-29     1:55:30
10    SKOWNO     ANDREW     X M30-34     1:58:55

DUESOUTH XTERRA INDIVIDUAL WOMEN

Surname     Name
1    BOMFORD     JEANNIE
2    LOMBARDI     MICHELLE
3    GERRAND     DEBBIE
4    RABIE     TANYA
5    DRAKE     ADELE
6    HEMMES     LOUISE
7    VISSER     ELZAAN
8    WOODS     CHRISTINE
9    FERREIRA     SAMANTHA
10    HAGE     BARBARA

(Die Burger - 11 July 08)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Jan Schutte, Jeannie Bomford, Media, Michelle Lombardi, Nico Pfitzenmaier, Xterra, Xterra Knysna, Xterra South Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.