By Koos van Staden
Race day dawned bright and clear on Saturday, 15 July 2006 to greet a record entry of eager mountain bike riders and enthusiasts, who lined up at the Hochland Engen Service Station in Windhoek to tackle one of the two mountain bike distances on offer â?? the 26km fun ride or the 61km Hochland Engen Namibia Mountain Bike Marathon Championships.
Quality field
Riders of all abilities came from far and wide to test themselves in the Khomas Hochland terrain - single track, rock, sand, open veld and two awesome climbs and descents alike. As for quality, there was definitely no shortage there either: at the starting line was the tough and talented Junior rider Jan-Hendrik Verdoes (Engen Hochland), the fast and skilful Jacques Celliers (Prowealth), experienced riders Tokkie Bombosh (Cycletec) and Andre de Jager (MTC), the friendly hard working Ermin van Wyk (Cycletec) and the queen of Namibian mountain biking Heletjé van Staden (Hochland Engen), who killed any hope of an easy day for the championship riders who cranked the 61km demanding route.
Select group breaks away
The first 4 kilometres stretch of gravel and tar road running from Hochland Engen served its usual purpose of setting the nerves and warming the riders up before the real test began with a power climb and subsequent technical decent. Here a very select group of riders - Jacques Celliers, Jan-Hendrik Verdoes, Ermin van Wyk, Tokkie Bombosch, Mike Swanepoel, Andre de Jager and Heletjé van Staden took the race by storm and powered away from the rest of the field. Eventually Jacques and Jan-Hendrik dropped the other riders and burst their way home with Jacques clinching the Grand Menâ??s Championship Trophy, 15 seconds ahead of the 16-year old Jan-Hendrik Verdoes who cycled neck-and-neck with Jacques for the entire 61km track. Heletjé outclassed all the female riders to win the Grand Ladies Championship Trophy.
The soul of Mountain Biking
Mountain bikers evaluated the event as being challenging and adventurous whilst providing lots of fun with their mates. Some riders even for the first time in life discovered the soul of mountain biking!
According to the sponsors, being Coca-Cola, Engen Hochland, Spar Swakopmund, Dairenkia Motors, Nexus Building Contractors, Medical Imaging, Bio-Dynamics, OK Foods Outjo and Punch Lifestyle Computers the event lived up to all expectations and they are proud to be involved with the Namibian Cycling Federation and with Mountain Biking as a dynamic and well-presented sport.
The various category winners were as follows:
Elite Men:
1 Jacques Celliers
2 Ermin van Wyk
3 Ian Grossouw
Veteran Men:
1 Andre de Jager
2 Tokkie Bombosch
3 Michael Swanepoel
Veteran Women:
1 Elke Jagau
2 Claire Kolberg
3 Monica Grossmann
Master Men:
Herklaas Viljoen
2 Hennnie Kohne
3 Tony Bassingthwaighte
Junior Men:
1 Jan Hendrik Verdoes
2 Wynand Gouws
3 Frank Adrian
Junior Women:
1 Heletje van Staden
Fun Men:
1 Victor Nakulenga
2 Johannes Shikwena
3 JC Faul
Fun Women:
1 Jowina van Staden
2 Stephanie Faul
3 Romy Zwirner