Linél's 4 out of 4

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Curro Mossel Bay's Linél Engelbrecht made it four out of four in the Madibaz MTB XCO Series on Sunday, 1 September at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Campus in George.

The race, dubbed the Chameleon, took place on the Saasveld trails. Several new trails had to be built after fires ravaged the area. The region also has not had rain so riders were faced with a dry, challenging track prepared by Richard Muller and Hannes Neethling.

To add to the challenge, the course was battered by gusty wind.

Linél had an excellent start to the race. She immediately took the lead, set a blistering pace and held on to this lead unchallenged to finally cross the line in a time of 52 minutes 37 seconds. Second over the line was Outeniqua High School's Marlie Blom, who could not match Linél's speed or form and completed the race in a time of 1:02:10.

Also from Outeniqua High and third over the line was Sorina Venter.

Linél is the 2019 Eden XCO Youth Girls' Champion after convincingly winning the series and will receive Eden XCO colours for her achievement.

There is a big thumbs up for the Madibaz MTB XCO Series from all the riders and their sincere appreciation goes to Jan Venter (NMMU) and his team, Juan Botes (Chain Gang Events) and the all-important sponsors of the event.

The riders are looking forward to the 2020 series, which no doubt promises to be more exciting than 2019.

Marlie Blom (left), Linél Engelbrecht (middle) and Sorina Venter (right).