SA National Championships 2023 - Oudtshoorn

[J Wakefield]

4 minutes ago, wattnow said:

SA Champs 2019- Pretoria , Impeys attacks up Tom Jenkins on the last lap, crowds were lining the climb and even standing on the stone walls to catch a glimps. Must find the pic somewhere, its awesome.

We never going to get crowds in the middle or now where. But understandable if no other city, region bid on hosting the event. I think there in lies the problem. Take the sport to the people and you will get the support. Look at CTCT and 947, people are keen to watch/support... just make it easy to do so.

Doesn’t matter where you hold it, people will bitch.

no, 2019 was not the same in comparison. Great for SA in terms of a standard. Much like suikerbossie at Argus 

[wattnow]

[Jewbacca]

46 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Its South Africa, not Aus and not Columbia so the the support isn't there, doesn't matter the location. 

Same reason why in the middle of no where in Europe ones sleep on Alp du Huez for a week waiting for the stage. No one is sleeping on Chappies 

Dunno hey.... I've seen quite a number of people sleeping in the bushes up chappies recently.... 😝

[Bjornuys]

Is there any junior men start lists available?

[J Wakefield]

22 minutes ago, wattnow said:

 

[bleedToWin]

8 minutes ago, Bjornuys said:

Is there any junior men start lists available?

https://www.cyclingsa.com/road/

[milky4130]

2 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

Yeah. Look at Aussie Nationals earlier this year and recently Colombian Nationals. Crowds 4 or 5 deep on the climbs... 😢

I think this explains the 4 to 5 deep crowd for the Columbia Road Champs

 

[Spinnekop]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

Its South Africa, not Aus and not Columbia so the the support isn't there, doesn't matter the location. 

Same reason why in the middle of no where in Europe ones sleep on Alp du Huez for a week waiting for the stage. No one is sleeping on Chappies 

Well............

Let's see:

Crowds next to Klerksdorp SA champs

[Spinnekop]

1 minute ago, Spinnekop said:

Well............

Let's see:

Crowds next to Klerksdorp SA champs

Crowds next to road in EL

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Spinnekop

[Spinnekop]

Just now, Spinnekop said:

Crowds next to road in EL

 

Crowds in Pretoria

 

[Spinnekop]

48 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Doesn’t matter where you hold it, people will bitch.

no, 2019 was not the same in comparison. Great for SA in terms of a standard. Much like suikerbossie at Argus 

As pointed out above..........the big centers will attract more people.  % of population.  Easy math.

Can you remember the crit they held in front of the Argus-pick-up-your-number building in the centre of CT back in the day when the Giro del Capo was held?  
LOTS and LOTS of people.
I loved watching that racing.

[J Wakefield]

4 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

As pointed out above..........the big centers will attract more people.  % of population.  Easy math.

Can you remember the crit they held in front of the Argus-pick-up-your-number building in the centre of CT back in the day when the Giro del Capo was held?  
LOTS and LOTS of people.
I loved watching that racing.

Yes Remember it well; different times for cycling back then vs now also. 

[BMCfan]

@J Wakefield

@Spinnekop

 

Remember those days too! True, it was much different then.

I loved the Giro del Capo! As a lighty we stayed in Cape Town the whole weekend and i had the same spot on signal Hill for the TT every year. 

Thank goodness it was a bit higher up than the spitting contest spot between our 'golden boys' 😉

 

Back to the topic! Good luck to participants in Ou Horing this weekend. Would have loved to spectate, even if that meant camping on Chappies

[bleedToWin]

170km with 1900m elevation I reckon is tough enough to make it into a race of attrition. A strong move could go on the climb on the second to last lap with 50km to go. It's deep enough into the race to have tired legs, but too far for guys to immediately panic and shut it down. Could see a group of 5-10 go to the line.

[J Wakefield]

If the wind plays along the smarter move will be for the stronger guys to put it in the gutter and totally split it and hopefully catch a potential winner out and do this before the climb. As per normal SA racing at SA Champs, they sit and follow a few potential winners wheels. no one will chase and the gap will grow. 
then out of that group try split again on the climb and go to the line with a even more select group. 

[Jewbacca]

5 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

If the wind plays along the smarter move will be for the stronger guys to put it in the gutter and totally split it and hopefully catch a potential winner out and do this before the climb. As per normal SA racing at SA Champs, they sit and follow a few potential winners wheels. no one will chase and the gap will grow. 
then out of that group try split again on the climb and go to the line with a even more select group. 

It's like you've been there before!

The fine line between leaving it all out there and trying to win vs being being able to say 'I got a close 4th/7th etc at SA champs'

It would be awesome to see them tear it up. 

Maybe a certain somebody will remember a rare solo CTCT win from a break and try to initiate something similar