Local mountain bikers excel in first XCO event of year

Port Alfred Mountain bikers Zibele Bhoyi, Andrew Jardine and Samuel Jardine had the male categories pretty much covered in the first of the 2025 East Cape Mountain Biking XCO season events. The series opener was held in challenging conditions with the mercury hitting the upper 20s at Emerald Vale, Cintsa, on both Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January.  

XCO stands for Cross Country Olympic and is one of seven recognised disciplines of the relatively young sport of mountain biking (the first MTB competitions were held in California, US, in the early 80s). Part of the Olympic programme, XCO races feature undulating circuits of 4 to 6km with technical descents, forest roads, rocky paths and obstacles. The race varies from an hour and 20 minutes to 1:40 depending on the category. 

At the Emerald Vale circuit, the long (XCO) track last weekend was 4.4km per lap with a total 120m of climbing. 

Also held last weekend were XCC, or Cross-Country Short Track – a variation of XCO. Run on a shorter course, it is an intense, short (1-2km), and tactical, but less technical circuit that takes about 20 minutes. XCC is often used as a qualifying or complementary event to XCO competitions. This discipline emphasises speed and agility, offering a fast and exciting race that is also accessible to a wider range of riders. 

The Emerald Vale’s short track was 1.9km per lap, with a total 30m of climbing. 

Zibele Bhoyi placed third in the highly competitive sub-vet men’s category, posting a time of 53:27 over four laps of the long course. Ahead of him were former G2C winner Jason Peach and Cobus Gouws, who won that event in 47:19. 

Samuel Jardine was 6th in the four-lap Sprog Men category that took place on the short course. His dad Andrew placed 4th in the Masters Men category (three laps of the long course).  

Winner of the Elite men’s (U23) race over 6 laps of the long course was Eben Hartslief (1:05:25). There was no elite women’s race. Youth women’s winner (4 laps) was Ashleigh Schroeter (51:51). 

East Cape XCO#1 hosted by Eastern Wheelers Youth Cycling Club. You can get the information you need to enter or follow the series on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/EastCapeMtb  

• This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January 30, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.