Huge Day Of Sporting Activities At The JBay Winterfest Presented By Woodlands Dairy 2016
Mick Fanning Wins JBay Open
A chilly Saturday morning at Supertubes saw a few small waves running down the fabled point, and the event organisers did not hesitate in calling the event on. While it wasn’t perfect Supers, it was highly contestable and there were excellent scoring rides from the get-go.
Grey skies did not keep the crowds at bay, and the beach was packed to capacity before 10am.
The second semi was the repeat of last year’s final as the two Australians, Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson, repeated their disrupted final from last year, with Mick winning through to the final.
In the second semi, young Hawaiian surfer John John Florence came up against Australian surfer Josh Kerr, who deposed Slater in the first heat of the day. Both John John and Josh are aerial exponents and took to the skies, but it was John John who emerged victorious.
The final saw Fanning flying down the line to execute a few big, high scoring turns and take the lead from John John early in the heat.
Despite some massive air turns from John John on both his scoring waves, Fanning hung onto the lead until the end, to win his fourth event title in JBay. John John climbs to second on the Jeep leaderboard while Fanning climbs to fifth.
>RMB Change A Life Academy’s Ndumiso ‘Maza’ Dontso wins JBay Wind Farm MTB Classic
Ndumiso ‘Maza’ Dontso won the JBay Wind Farm Classic on Saturday 16 July 2016, beating Jason Meaton and Luvuyo ‘Thando’
Siyasi. Maza, who hails from Molteno is part of Martin Dreyer’s RMB Change A Life MTB team and is based in The Valley of a Thousand Hills in KZN. This was his first win – and indeed his first race – in his home province.
“I’m very happy with the win,” said a visibly elated Maza after the win. “It was tough though – the wind played a big role and for a large part of the race I was isolated.” Indeed, the ‘wind’ did show up for the fourth edition of this event (previously known as the JBay MTB Open), in the form of a stiff morning Southwesterly – which provided perfect offshore conditions for the JBay Open to be completed up at Supertubes – but then perhaps it wouldn’t be a fitting ‘Wind Farm Classic’ without.
According to Maza he played it safe early on and worked with another rider while two others were up the road. At around the 35-kilometre mark he made his move and stayed out front for the rest of the 85-kilometres (with some 1462 metres of climbing). “I just put my head down and rode a consistent tempo,” Maza said.
The women’s 85-kilometre was won by Yolande de Villiers with three-time defending champion Anriëtte Schoeman in second.
While Maza, De Villiers and co were battling it out at the sharp end of the field some 500 other mountain bikers braved the the chilly, blustery conditions to ride the only event of its kind to traverse a wind farm over three routes – 85km, 50km and 25km.
“The race is going from strength to strength and that shows in the entry numbers, which have more than doubled since last year,”
commented Willie van Niekerk Commercial Director of the Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm, who himself completed the 25-kilometre route.
“There was some very good wind,” he joked at the prize giving, “we always appreciate good wind, being a wind farm.”
The Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm has committed to at least three more years as title sponsor of the event so it promises to keep growing.
“Mountain-biking being a carbon-free, clean sport is exactly the way we want to do business,” he said. “Another aspect of the event is that it offers people the opportunity to get access to see the turbines up close, which is not always possible.”
RESULTS:
85KM
Men
1. Ndumiso Dontso, 2. Jason Meaton, 3. Luvuyo Siyasi
Women
1. Yolande de Villiers, 2. Anriëtte Schoeman, 3.San Marie Woithe
50km
Men
1. Aiden Connelly, 2. Gerrit Rautenbach, 3. Tristan Nortjie
Women
1. Sitka van der Bijl, 2. Antoinette Miller, 3. Vicku Laing
25km
Men
1. Leon Volschenk, 2. Anton van Schoor, 3. Rouan Brummer
Women
1. Ashleigh Mayhem, 2. Robin Stewart, 3. Kristin Harrington
—
Siyabonga Klahla wins JBayX Turbine Run
First event in the three-installment series a resounding success
The 2016 JBayX Turbine Run, the first event in the unique two-day, three-event series that is JBay X, took place this morning at Impala Ranch outside JBay. Runners were treated to stunning singletrack and jeep trail running with a fairly ‘fast’ section between the four and10 kilometre mark. Despite the chilly conditions a big, brave field tackled the route, which saw some 350m of elevation gain.
Because of the hill-and-dale nature of the area, the stiff morning breeze – which provided perfect offshore conditions for the JBay Open to be completed up at Supertubes – didn’t factor in too much.
The men’s race was won by Siyabonga Klahla in a time of 1:24:21 with Zoë Henn taking the women’s win in a time of 1:54:09.
Bradley Heyman who came in 3rd place overall is currently in the lead of the ‘full’ JBayX Trail Series, which consists of 3 x 20Km individual trails runs, all starting 12 hours apart.
Newman claims third victory in JBay Winterfest Cold Water Classic
Cold and cloudy conditions greeted swimmers taking part in the Cold Water Classic at Marina Martinique, Jeffreys Bay this morning.
The water temperature was 14C with the air even colder at 12C, as reigning Cold Water Classic champion Rebecca Newman took her third title with a dominant swim in the triple Mile event.
Swimmers could only wear costumes, goggles and a swim cap for the triple Mile, as it was swam according to Channel rules.
“The water was way warmer than last year where we had to deal with 11C water and I felt comfortable the entire swim,” said Newman after her victory.
Jeffreys Bay swimmer JC Van Wyk won the men’s division of the triple Mile.
One of the stars of the Cold Water Classic was 9 yr old Abriella Bredell, who swam her first ever sub 15C Mile, wearing nothing more than her costume, goggles and swim cap.
“I do wear a wetsuit when I go surfing but I want to swim Robben Island so I have to get used to the cold water and swim in my costume,” said a satisfied Bredell after her swim.
Bredell aims to swim the Robben Island – Blouberg Beach crossing in the next few years and the Cold Water Classic is an integral part of her open water swim journey.
Recent Comments