Celliers is national time trial champion

JACQUES Celliers of the Prowealth team continued his fine form of late when he won the Emcon Namibian National Time Trial Championships outside Windhoek last Sunday.

Celliers covered the 37,5 km route on the Brakwater road in a time of 48 minutes 16 seconds, which was eight seconds faster than his winning time over the same course last year. The victory was Celliers’s second recent triumph after he won the Tour de Windhoek three-day stage race on October 13.Dan Craven followed way back, about three minutes behind in second place, while Marc Bassingthwaighte came third about another three minutes behind.A big battle took place in the Veteran Men’s category where defending champion Nick du Plessis had his hands full, with newcomer Joris Harteveld hot on his heels.Nick eventually managed to win the category in a time of 50 min 6 sec, while Harteveld took second.Du Plessis’ time was the second fastest overall, with only Celliers riding faster, and put some of the Elite category cyclists to shame.While some riders were still on the start line or warming up, the younger categories had already crossed the finish line.Herbert Peters handily won the U/10 category, while Kirsten Penzhorn won the U/12 girls’ and Thorsten Kreft was victorious in the U/12 boys’ category.Vera Adrian narrowly beat Michaela Milz to be crowned the U/14 girls’ champion, while Till Drobisch beat his fellow competitors by more than a minute to win the gold medal in the U/14 boys’ category.The good conditions helped riders post very fast times, with Susan Horn winning the Junior Ladies’ and Petra Laaser taking the Veteran Ladies’ titles, while Hennie Koehne won the Master Men’s title.The fastest time in the Elite Ladies’ division was posted by Cordula Moeller.However, as a non-Namibian, she is not eligible for National Champion status, and the gold medal went to Charmaine Shannon.Coming off a third place at the recent Namibian Cycle Classic, Stefan Markgraaff managed to put just over a minute between himself and Frank Adrian to clinch the title in the U/16 boys’ category.The National Time Trial Championships was sponsored by Emcon for the fourth year in a row.The victory was Celliers’s second recent triumph after he won the Tour de Windhoek three-day stage race on October 13.Dan Craven followed way back, about three minutes behind in second place, while Marc Bassingthwaighte came third about another three minutes behind.A big battle took place in the Veteran Men’s category where defending champion Nick du Plessis had his hands full, with newcomer Joris Harteveld hot on his heels.Nick eventually managed to win the category in a time of 50 min 6 sec, while Harteveld took second.Du Plessis’ time was the second fastest overall, with only Celliers riding faster, and put some of the Elite category cyclists to shame.While some riders were still on the start line or warming up, the younger categories had already crossed the finish line.Herbert Peters handily won the U/10 category, while Kirsten Penzhorn won the U/12 girls’ and Thorsten Kreft was victorious in the U/12 boys’ category.Vera Adrian narrowly beat Michaela Milz to be crowned the U/14 girls’ champion, while Till Drobisch beat his fellow competitors by more than a minute to win the gold medal in the U/14 boys’ category.The good conditions helped riders post very fast times, with Susan Horn winning the Junior Ladies’ and Petra Laaser taking the Veteran Ladies’ titles, while Hennie Koehne won the Master Men’s title.The fastest time in the Elite Ladies’ division was posted by Cordula Moeller.However, as a non-Namibian, she is not eligible for National Champion status, and the gold medal went to Charmaine Shannon.Coming off a third place at the recent Namibian Cycle Classic, Stefan Markgraaff managed to put just over a minute between himself and Frank Adrian to clinch the title in the U/16 boys’ category.The National Time Trial Championships was sponsored by Emcon for the fourth year in a row.