West Rand Amateur Radio Club

April 18^th2010, sees the 12^th running of this event, and it is now called“WILRO LIONS CYCLE CHALLENGE”

The weather predictions mentioned a 30% chance of rain, and it was with trepidation that race organisers awaited the early morning of race day. However, as perusual, the forecasters failed to mention that the rain was only going to hit Tarlton in the late afternoon.

 The first to leave the fantastic venue of TARLTON INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY was to be the tandems, and they were to tackle the 114km challenging route first. They left 5 minutes before the next group, the elite/under23, and juniors, and it took them a considerable time before the tandems were eventually caught by the Elites! Eventual winners of the tandem section was Craig Campbell and his partner,with a very credible time of 2:37.

 Next to leave was the very fast Elite bunch, which included the Under 23’s, and juniors. Medscheme, MTN, and House of Paint were well represented here, and the racing was fast and furious. The bunch sprint for the line was slightly hairraising for the 41km fun riders, as the bunch of about 8 riders, with Johan Rabe 2 seconds ahead of the bunch, all came across the line within about 8 seconds. The leader of the pack was Johann Rabe, 2:32:49, followed close by sprint ace and fellow team mate, Malcolm Lange. Next was last year’s winner,Christoff van Heerden of MTN, followed by Michael Pepper and Medscheme rider, Hanco Kachelhoffer. In the juniors, Bradley Mitchell managed to beat Devlin White and James Fourie across the line with a time of 2:33:42, only less than a minute slower than the Elite guys.

 Next to depart from Tarlton was the Vets 30-39 age group. This category sees some very tight and competitive racing, but Deno van Heerden got to the line in atime of 2:47:38, ahead of Craig Harvey and Werner Moolman.

 In the vets 40-49 category, racing was going to be as competitive as any of the others, and eventually saw Stefano Madiesbeat Anton Duvenhage and Gary Beneke across the line with a time of 2:43:28.

 The Vets 50+ departed with the Licensed ladies, which made for interesting tactics by both groups, but in the vets 50+ group, Joe Visser, with a time of 03:01:37,ahead of Greef Moolman and Howard Julius. The first lady across the line was Robyn de Groot, who completed the 114km route with a time of 03:03:08, closely followed by Cherise Taylor and Anriette Schoeman.

 Then it was the turn of the fun riders, competing against one another on the 114kmroute. The route goes past Maropeng, doooownnn the infamous Hekpoort hill,returning to just outside the sleepy hollow of Magaliesburg, where it turns out towards Western Cane, and the long stretches of road running between largefields of ‘Dis Mos Mielies’! The wind is known to  blow a gale out on these open stretches, way out on the western side of the route, and even though it is relatively flat, the wind makes for a very punishing ride back home.

 Next up, doing a challenging, but quick 41km’s, was the Under16 and Under14’s. This was going to be interesting racing, and these youngsters were not holding back. A great tussle and some hard work saw Wesley Eslick beat Ryan Gibbons and Wilmer Janse van Rensburg with a great time of 1:06:25. The Under14’s mixed it up with their ‘older’ competitiors, but Joshua Buckel, with a time similar to the Under 16’s, beat Neil Robinson and Cameron Mcnair to the line. There was only 1 Under 16 Girl, and she made to the line in a very credible time of 01:20:01, beating some of the boys in the process.

 Then it was the time of the social riders to tackle the ‘shortish’ 41km route, which held various challenges for competitors, depedning on their level of fitness,and for some, their personal goal was to complete the route.

 Results for the event can be found on ‘www.spectrumsport.co.za’,and pictures are available on www.cyclenation.co.za.

 Anotherbrilliant event was completed, and the day was enjoyed by all. The organisersof the event, the Wilro Park Lions club, in conjunction with Westgate Wheelers,thank all their sponsors, helpers, officials, friends, and family that assistedin making the event a great success.

 We hope to see everyone again at this great event in 2011!