XMspread #MTBCraterCruise Parys Roubaix

Parys Roubaix MTN Ride Crater Cruise pictorial report

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHS SEPT 2014 ZOON CRONJE

The final round of the MTN National MTB series driven by Nissan took place in the Freestate town of Parys with the MTN Ride Crater Cruise

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Pure

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plaas The MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan is the largest marathon series in the world with 8 yearly events and close to 16 000 competitors

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Faded Fr not dull

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reestate The event included the MTN Ultra Marathon (115km) and Marathon (80km) events as well as the Nissan Half Marathon (45km), BuyCycle Fun race (23km) and the USN dirt flirt (12km).

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Back to nature

The MTN Ride Crater Cruise marathon drew a record 400 entries with a total of 2248 entries for the weekend’s events

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Morning magic The route saw the addition of a couple new sections to make the racing more enjoyable and exciting including a new technical kloof section

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Dirt flirt #MTBCraterCruise

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The race is fondly known as the Parys Roubaix because of the rough corrugated sections on the open dirt roads the race became famous for, also called the mountain bike road race initially

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The Freestate #MTBCraterCruise

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is not flat

The addition of the “sorry hill” on the Nissan Half Marathon route gave the riders something to chew on in the otherwise “flat” region

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Fritz Pienaar from Advendurance showing some style climbing to the top of sorry hill

Hands free fun #MTBCraterCruise

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The event is usually towards the end of the season for many athletes signaling some respite causing many smiles on the start line

Start lin smiles #MTBCraterCruise

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ne xtremedia.co.za

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The open dirt road sections bring in a rare occurrence in mountain biking where bunch riding tactics actually come into play

Bunch #MTBCraterCruise

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brawl xtremedia.co.za

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Second fiddle Lourens Luus was one of only two riders that could challenge Nico Bell for the overall series victory on the day but had to settle for second place behind his team mate and team leader Bell

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Nissan and USN have become part of the driving force behind event organizing company Advendurance responsible for organising the MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan

Driving ex #MTBCraterCruise

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xcellence xtremedia.co.za

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Effervescent

Evans

Kevin Evans has managed to keep coming back after disastrous seasons and still managed to salvage 3rd overall in the series

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Bridging the divide

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Advendurance has through the MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan provided riders with the opportunity to race on international level and even managed to lure some of the top international athletes to our shores making it easier for our riders to compete on that level.

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Braking point When Lourens Luus’ team mate Nico Bell punctured on this rocky down hill section he had the opportunity to push ahead and claim the series victory for himself #MTBCraterCruise

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The 2014 event was moved a month earlier to try and avoid the heat but as Murphy would have it temperatures soared in the high thirties on the day making for one dry and dusty day out on the bike

Sweating blood xtremedia.co.za

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Trans Vaa #MTBCraterCruise

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The famous Vaal river that runs through the Vredefort dome is one of the iconic features of the event

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Bell shines Nico Bell suffered some setbacks in his attempt to win the overall series but refused to let punctures psyche him out.

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Freesta freewhe

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ate eeling xtremedia.co.za

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Smoking hot Some surprise aerial acrobatics caused some unexpected exhilaration on route

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No man Here Waylong Woolcock is caught in what cyclists refer to as no man’s land with nobody to help with the chase back to the leaders

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n’s land

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Ding dong The final battle came down to Nico Bell and Kevin Evans exchanging blows in the final 20km of the MTN Ultra Marathon shadowed by one of the Advendurance Nissan Navara’s

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battle

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V for Vict

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tory

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Nico Bell stamped his authority on the series and the day by taking the win even though he only needed to finish 5th to take the series title

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After action satisfaction Nico Bell and Kevin Evans reflecting on the season in the glow of success after finishing first and second respectively on the day

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Sunshine, sin track and sm

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ngle miles

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Parys race

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village

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Under the

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bridge

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Wired xtremedia.co.za

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Full frontal #MTBCraterCruise

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Keeping

Momentum

Carel Bosman from Momentum grinding his way up the sorry hill climb

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Tranquil tr

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rails

The MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan is renowned for finding the best trails in each region they visit over the series of 8 events

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Action at 62

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ttraction The ZC Marketing Consulting crew capturing the action for Advendurance

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Fun for the whole family

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The event is spread over two days with various distances catering for various fitness levels and ages making it the perfect family affair for the weekend xtremedia.co.za

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From a diffe

perspect

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erent

tive

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Homec xtremedia.co.za

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coming xtremedia.co.za

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Final fa

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arewell

This was the final event in the 2014 MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan and rumour has it that an announcement will be made shortly with some big changes for 2015

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The final round of the MTN National MTB series driven by Nissan took place in the Freestate town of Parys with the MTN Ride Crater Cruise

#MTBCraterCruise

www.nationalmtbseries.com | Twitter @NatMTBseries | Facebook Facebook.com/nationalmtbseries

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