“We are sorry Yolandé (Speedy) that we were not capable of making you work harder for your victory. We are all working very hard to improve so that, next year, you will not finish nearly a ‘month’ ahead of us in the MTN South African Marathon Championship.”  

This is what Carla Rowley (BSG-Biogen) said jokingly after Saturday’s race (27 February) in Sabie.   Speedy (MTN/Energade) won the race over 75 kilometers, with Karien van Jaarsveld (Natro) 2nd and Carla Rowley 3rd.  

As usual Speedy was humble about her victory. She explained that she focused on riding at a steady tempo during most of the race, because she did not want to make any stupid mistakes that could lead to a nasty tumble.  

The English saying about not counting your chickens before they are hatched, turned out to be true for Rowley.   During most of the race she was racing in the second position.  

“I really thought that the silver medal was going to be mine, but suddenly, with five kilometers to go, I had a rude awakening when I realized that Karien was riding right next to me. 

I did not expect that to happen, especially after I had asked members of the television crew who were following us throughout the race how big a gap I had on the next rider. They assured me that my silver medal was safe.  

“It definitely was not. Over the last few kilometers Karien and I were involved in a titanic battle for the second place. I can honestly say that it was not pleasant to be beaten in a sprint. But watch me. Now I know that sprinting is just as important in mountain biking as it is in road cycling. I have no option but to start working on my sprints.”  

Rowley’s bike handling skills were tested to the full towards the end of the race when one of the fun-riders lost control right in front of her and hit the ground.  

“For a second I thought ‘Oh no, I am going to crash’. Luckily, I managed to hop across the rider’s wheel without going down.”  

Van Jaarsveld, who is coached by Speedy, said that she deliberately took it easy during the first half of the race.   Towards the end, when I realized that I was still feeling strong, I began to increase my speed.  

“I think I almost time-trialed the second half of the race. It was really special for me to win a silver medal at my first ever national championship.”  

Van Jaarsveld, who has only recently started to race seriously, has at this stage quite an impressive CV in the MTN series. She has raced twice and finished 2nd both times.