Swiss marathon specialist, Urs Huber (Team Bulls), shattered the course record on his way to winning the Fairview Attakwas Extreme mountain bike marathon near Oudtshoorn, South Africa on Saturday.
Karl Platt (Team Bulls) leads the pack with defending champ Christoph Sauser (Specialized Racing) in tow
Photo: ZOON CRONJE/NIKON
The 28-year-old former Swiss national champion clocked a time of 04 hours 47 minutes 46 seconds, almost nine minutes faster than the previous record of 04:56:29 set in 2013 by compatriot, Christoph Sauser (Specialized Racing). It was Huber’s first attempt at the 121km event, which includes 2900 metres of vertical ascent.
Sauser, the current marathon World Champion, was runner up on Saturday in a time of 04:54:33, with Germany’s four-time ABSA Cape Epic winner, Karl Platt (Team Bulls) rounding out the podium in a time of 04:55:16. Erik Kleinhans (Team RE:CM) was the first South African home in fifth place.
Current Swiss marathon champion, Ariane Kleinhans (Team RE:CM) captured her third successive Attakwas Extreme title when she set a course record in the women’s race.
Kleinhans clocked a time of 05:40:38, which sliced almost two minutes off her previous mark of 05:41:29 and placed her in 22nd place overall. Second place went to South African marathon champion, Robyn de Groot (Biogen Toyota) with Ischen Stopforth (Sasol Racing) completing the podium places.
Urs Huber (Team Bulls) solos his way to victory
Photo: ZOON CRONJE/NIKON
Fairview Attakwas Extreme – 121km, 2 900m ascent
Oudtshoorn, South Africa, Saturday 18 January 2014
Leading results:
Men
1 Urs Huber – SUI (Team Bulls) 04hrs 47min 46sec
2 Christoph Sauser – SUI (Specialized Racing) @ 06min 36sec
3 Karl Platt – GER (Team Bulls) @ 07:19
4 Frantisek Rabon – CZE (Specialized Racing) @ 07:23
5 Erik Kleinhans – RSA (Team RE:CM) @ 09:41
6 Stefan Sahm – GER (Team Bulls) @ 09:41
7 Simon Stiebjahn – GER (Team Bulls) @ 10:24
8 Kevin Evans – RSA (FedGroup Itec) @ 19:38
9 Darren Lill – RSA (Cannondale Blend @ 19:53
10 Waylon Woolcock (Cannondale Blend) @ 19:54
Women
1 Ariane Kleinhans – SUI (Team RE:CM) 05:40:38
2 Robyn de Groot – RSA (Biogen Toyota) @ 16:48
3 Ischen Stopforth – RSA (Sasol Racing)
Almost thought you meant a fellow Hubber crushed the record!