DH Western Province Champs, Contermanskloof, Cape Town, South Africa by esphotography

A cold, muddy and rutted Contermanskloof Mainline awaited the DH riders this past weekend for the Western Province Championship for 2014. With more than 20mm of rain falling the night before, it was always going to be an ever changing track of peanut butter like trails. The entire track is scattered with nasty rocks and this is one track on the African circuit where riders don’t get up straight away after an off. The more popular sections were the switchbacks, the high speed run off from the road gap and then the rock chute which claimed many bike parts and body parts.

A quick and nasty patch of rain came along halfway through practice, making sure everything stayed nice and clogged up. With our local pro riders racing overseas, and the winter showing its teeth, the field was smaller than expected, but the racing was good nevertheless. A slight delay ahead of the start coincided with some semi sunny conditions, causing the track to dry out significantly - ideal for racing.

Top 10 Overall:
1. Theo Erlangsen 02:12.183
2. Adriaan Smit 02:16.363
3. Duran Van Eeden 02:17.821
4. Roman Kumpers 02:21.412
5. Myles Kelsey 02:22.521
6. Timothy Godfrey 02:25.160
7. Jacques Prins 02:25.854
8. Jaco Veldsman 02:26.700
9. Francois Du Toit 02:27.013
10. Graig Roades-Harrison 02:28.917

Check out the full results here.

The legend that is Contermanskloof Mainline

Last minute (wet) lube application

Spectators trying to stay warm

The type of surface that awaited the riders

Think peanut butter like mud making traction rather interesting

Sebastian Petersen taking on the road gap despite the loose, muddy run in

Contermanskloof Mainline

Jason du Toit in the switchbacks

These guys always seem to come out when it rains

Deep, pedal bashing ruts throughout the top section of the track

Andries Starke successfully dealing with the ruts

Adriaan Smit hitting the road gap on his way to 2nd position

Dark skies about to unleash

And then the rain came

The finish line area looking rather grim

Brief but intense rainstorm

But it wasn't long for the sun to shine down again on the finish line

Theo Ngubane absolutely covered in mud

Jacques Prins dropping into the gulley

Jonty Neethling was on a flyer until he punctured close to the bottom of his run

The infamous Contermanskloof rock garden - also referred to as the ice garden - with 3 (maybe 4) line options through there

Myles Kelsey trying to figure out which line will work for him ...

... and committing to one

Duran van Eeden styling over the hip on his way to 3rd

Theo Erlangsen, the king of Contermanskloof, on his way to the finish line and WP DH Champion

DH WP Champs 2014 Men's podium

Thanks to all our sponsors involved, Leatt, Dialdbikes, Red bull, Paarl media Group, Mondi, DCP, Giant. Thanks to Tygess Medics who always make sure we are safe. Thanks to Greville from Great-Time for doing the timing in the cold and windy conditions. Thanks to Robert Starke and the Starke family for the opportunity to have another race on the farm!

Author Info:

esphotography

Member since Dec 20, 2011
61 articles

2 Comments

irideafrica (Jun 3, 2014 at 12:51)

Man! It looked such fun conditions to ride in. Great writeup and photos Ewald. You didn't mention that Duran raced to 3rd with a huge hole in his hand from Mankele and Smitty was racing with a broken fork

Not bad!

headshot FL (Jun 3, 2014 at 12:28)

Good one as usual Well done ESP!