Cyclists compete in north

GROOTFONTEIN was whipped into a frenzy when cyclists from Windhoek, Outjo, Rundu and Oshakati turned up for a ‘first of its kind’ in Namibia, the Karstland Double Century.

A route that stretched over 210 kilometres started in Grootfontein, via Tsumeb, then Otavi and back to Grootfontein. Five teams entered the tough race. Toshiba Bullets of Jan Nel, Brendan Dawson, George Thiele, Adriaan Maartens and Mathias Kreft took the third prize of N$3 000 with a time of 6 hours, 22 minutes and 31 seconds. There was a close finish between the teams NMC Methealth Namibia and Cycletec.The NMC team consisted of Mirko Meier, Heindrich Kohnne, Mike Swanepoel, Johan Fourie, Jacques Tattersall and Nick Du Plessis.Cycletec had Norbert Meyer, Stefan Marggraff, Till Drobisch, Marc Bassingthwaighte, Johannes Shikena and Joah Nakapipi Team Cycletec set the benchmark with a time of 5 hours, 23 minutes and 48 seconds and received the first prize of N$10 000. NMC Methealth walked away with N$5 000. Windhoek Optics followed with their time of 7 hours, 15 minutes and 31 seconds. The women’s team consisted of five veterans with a time of 8 hours, 48 minutes and 15 seconds. Four solo riders also completed with a time of 8 hours, 20 minutes 30 seconds. The King of the Mountain prize went to Team NMC – Methealth and the first prize for the solo riders went to Leevi Bartholomeus with his time of 7 hours, 36 minutes and 53 seconds.The sponsors were FNB, Cymot, Hollard, Santam, Agro Business and Consultants, Vobaco Pharmacy, SF Motors (Ford/Mazda), Build-It.The Traffic Department and Nanmpol in Grootfontein helped a lot and the riders were impressed with the service of the traffic department.