Jeep Team’s multisport star, Michael Lord, was in a league of his own at Saturday’s Totalsports Xterra Grabouw Lite, claiming podium in the men’s race in 1h13m54s, ahead of Jean-Paul Burger (second) and Michael Ferreira (third). Lord then competed in the full distance event on Sunday, finishing 1st in age category (20 – 24 male) and an impressive 14th overall (Men) in 2h51m48s.

Over 1200 athletes competed in the Xterra Lite event that included a 400m swim, 12.5km mountain bike and 6km trail run at the Grabouw Country Club, Western Cape, while on Sunday, nearly 400 multisport warriors took on the full distance race (1.5km swim, 28km MTB and 12.5km trail run).

Said Lord after winning, “Out of all the triathlons that I’ve taken part in over the past eleven years, the Totalsports Xterra Grabouw Lite is the best. This is the best route and the best organised triathlon by far, definitely my favourite race of all time. I swam with Michael Ferreira and Ruan Van Zyl. On the bike I went out super hard on the first climb, from there onwards I was pretty much alone for the rest of the race. The run route is amazing. I was just smiling the whole race.”

Other Jeep Team results…

Paddling

Power couple Hank and Pippa McGregor dominated the 2015 Dusi Canoe Marathon Mixed Doubles race from start to finish, arriving effortlessly as the first boat home in category (and an impressive 25th overall) at Blue Lagoon in Durban on Saturday in a total 3-day time of 9h36.46s.

The McGregors’ Dusi domination saw them break the Mixed Doubles record by four minutes, ahead of strong competition that included one of South Africa’s top women’s paddlers, Abby Adie, who competed with her father, Graham. The McGregors were also the second K2 home, behind Craig Turton and Clint Pretorius (8h58m24s).

In a prelude to the 2015 Dusi, McGregor took his third successive win in the Varsity College FNB Marine Surfski Series on Tuesday, 17 February, ahead of fierce competition that included five-time World Surfski Series champion Dawid Mocké.

The result sees McGregor in a strong first overall position heading into Race#8 of the 10-race series, which takes place on Friday, 27 February, in Durban.

Cycling

Jeep Team’s MTB ultra-marathon cyclists, Thinus Redelinghuys and Pierre Smith, finished 18th and 20th respectively in the gruelling 115-km Ashburton Investments National MTB Series: Race#2.

The event, which doubled as a UCI race, attracted some of the best MTB cyclists in the world and took place in the ‘Mecca’ of mountain biking – Sabie, Mpumalanga, with Max Knox (Biogen-Volcan) claiming podium in 5h11m19s, followed by Waylon Woolcock (5h15m42s) and former Jeep Team athlete, Matthew Beers, in third (5h18m45s).

An action-packed weekend for MTB athlete Dylan Rebello saw him place 6th overall at the Western Cape XCO Provincial Championships on Saturday, and then second in category (Mixed Team) in the Totalsports Xterra Grabouw full distance event alongside team mate, Megan Leslie.

In BMX, Alex Dolman finished 6th in the Elite Men’s race at Round 1 of the Gauteng Provincial BMX Series – an outstanding result for the young BMX star-in-the-making who only turns 15 in May!

Jeep Team’s Kyle Dodd competed in his first race in the United States – Round 1 of the BMX Winter Nationals. The 2016 Rio Olympic hopeful, who is currently competing in the US to gain international experience and points, was unable to reach the finals, but considered his first US event “excellent preparation” for his next pro race in South Carolina from 20 - 22 March.

OCR

On Saturday, Jeep Team’s Jay Jay Deysel competed in the 12.5km Puma Trail Run, which formed part of the Xterra Grabouw events in the Western Cape. Deysel, who described the event as the “best and most beautiful trail run he’s ever done”, did well to finish 13th overall in 58m24s, against a strong field that included South African ultra-trail champion AJ Calitz, who claimed the victory in 47m39s.

On Sunday, Thomas van Tonder placed eighth in the demanding Hedianga Beast 15km Trail Run, in Gauteng. He commented after the race that it is called ‘the Beast’ for good reason and was pleased to finish in a time of 1h23m.