Youth Day (Thursday 16 June) saw the first round of the Junior Eliminator Series for KwaZulu-Natal take place at Northwood Boys High School, Durban North. The event saw 21 schools being represented and many first timers to the eliminator format. Eliminator is a short course heat race where four riders at a time sprint across a short course of roughly 800m with the top two riders advancing to the next round and the bottom two being eliminated from the event.
The urban course was very similar to last year with a few minor changes – these changes included a dual set of stairs which at first scared some of the competitors but later offered exciting racing action.
The overcast weather with threats of rain was not going to deter the spectators cheering on the closely contested heats and as the day went on the sprint finishers got tighter with often less than a wheels length separating the riders. The first heat of the day (u/19 boys) showed just how much power was being generated with two chains being snapped off the startline!
It was great to see more girls entering and offered some interesting racing with great skills being shown amongst the various age groups. The u/16 duo of Tiffany Keep and Courtney Smith opted to race against the boys – we weren’t giving them an official result amongst the boys but we can confirm that many of the boys got chicked!
As the day progressed and the heats narrow down to the final so the racing got more intense. It wasn’t long after the riders blasted off the startline that they were heading back at full pace gritting their teeth in intense sprint finishes. The podium finishers were rewarded with some great prizes from our sponsors: Trek Bikes, Fox Racing, Skullcandy, OGIO, Frog Bikes and GoPro. There was also a number of raffle draw prizes so that everyone stood a chance to win.
Although cycling is pretty much an individual sport, riders were racing for points to contribute to their school teams to claim the trophy and bragging rights at the end of the series. As was expected (based on the previous two years) three schools are fighting for top honours: Northwood boys High School, Maritzburg College and Thomas More College – there is hardly anything separating them after round one which is setting up for a great finale this Sunday 26 June at Thomas More College(will home ground advantage play a role?).
Entries are open and can be done online: www.onemovement.co.za.
