The weekend of 9th to the 11th of September 2016, saw 52 brave riders head to Ceres, to take on the 2nd edition of the brutal and challenging, invite-only, EzelEnduro.
With more than 40km of trails, 1660 meters of vertical climbing, and the addition of another stage, the event was designed to be even tougher than last year’s. Stages 5 and 6, like last year, required riders to hike-a-bike for about 1.5 hours each, before dropping into a 10 minute, arm destroying descent. Riders spent between 7 and 8 hours battling against the unforgiving Ceres terrain, with 15 DNF’s at the end of the day, and plenty of mechanicals in the mix. With riders from KZN and Joburg travelling down specifically for the event, racing was set to be tight, and in the end, Hayden Brown (PYGA) took the win over Oli Munnik by 5 seconds, with last year’s champion Matt Lombardi (GIANT) rounding off the podium in 3rd.
A standalone event this year (previously piggybacking on the Eselfontein Festival), riders and supporters had full access to the entire campsite and eco-huts, and were free to roam the entire farm. A post event chill-zone was setup on Saturday, treating everybody to some delicious potjiekos, with beers and energy supplied by CBC and Redbull. The after-party ensued, and the unbroken ones took things into the early hours of Sunday morning…
Daniel Dobinson | iRideAfrica
Friday night saw most of the riders arrive at Ezelfontein to setup camp and get the fires going. Some were better prepared than others to fight the cold…
For most it was an early night as Saturday would be a tough 8 hours in the hills.
Last minute bike preps and the daily caffeine fix in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Frosty morning beats provided by Redbull. No sleep-ins at the party.
Joe Nesbitt
Guy Ian McKechnie
Nico van Zyl
Carlos Marquez
Gina Nixon
Hayden Brown
The official EzelEnduro trophy – hand crafted by Dave Mercer.
Rupert trying his best to brief the eager crowd.
Matt Lombardi
Craig McKune
Rupert von Tutschek
Awesome timing system provided by KZN MTB – worked a charm!
Rider getting ready to take on SS3.
Event organizer Daniel Dobinson – 5th overall.
Rika Olivier – 2nd overall in the ladies category.
Gina Nixon – 1st overall in the ladies category.
Winner winner chicken dinner. Hayden Brown, the king of Ezelfontein.
Cliff Beckett
Dave Hartley
Richard Dick Goldstein
Keira Duncan, only 15 years old and smashing out 4th overall. The future is bright.
Thumbs up on liaison 5. Only about an hour’s hiking left… on this stage.
John Toastie
Joanna Dobinson
Karl Kielblock
Hayden Brown charging his way into top spot.
Matt Lombardi showing the signs of an OTB on stage 5, with Dave Mercer apparently moving rocks out the way with his face.
Joanna Dobinson – 3rd overall in the ladies category
The 3 brave ladies taking on EzelEnduro 2016. Legends.
Frank Corris
Harry Millar
Julian Moore
The podiums from left: Danie du Toit taking the hardtail category. Overall ladies and overall men.
Top 10 overall:
1. Hayden Brown – 26:19
2. Oliver Munnik – 26:24
3. Matt Lombardi – 27:16
4. Keira Duncan – 28:31
5. Daniel Dobinson – 29:18
6. Hilton Frost – 29:19
7. Neil Bradford – 29:26
8. Harry Millar – 29:28
9. Rupert von Tutschek – 29:53
10. Julien Louw – 30:31
Download the full results here.
Shoutouts for making this event possible, goes to Redbull for music, shade, energy and very importantly, accurate timing. To CBC for some well deserved beer afterwards. To SRAM and WPGE for financial support and event insurance. To Deon Malherbe for providing us with this unique playground and building so many top quality trails for us to play on, and providing accommodation and motorbikes for myself and the event organizers to use during the event. To Llama bars for some amazing trail food. Lastly, to all the ladies that helped prepare the delicious potjiekos for all the starving riders Saturday afternoon.
See you all in 2017!
All images by Ewald Sadie | instagram: @ewaldsadie | www.esphotography.co.za
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