Marais And Van Huyssteen Shake Up Totalsports Xterra Pezula

Jacky McClean (TotalSports Xterra) / 05.07.2013

PEZULA Private Estate’s Field of Dreams resembled a battle field on Thursday, 04 July 2013 when just over 728 excited XTERRA Warriors gathered to be part of the action at the annual TOTALSPORTS XTERRA PEZULA presented by REHIDRAT® SPORT.  Stuart Marais and Carla Van Huyssteen were the warriors to beat crossing the finish line in impressive times of 01hour42minutes03seconds and 02hours00minutes02seconds respectively.

According to Marais, he was feeling broken after the hard week of racing.  “The Big 5 is killing me.  The plan was to kill it on the first run and then just survive on the bike.  Kevin Evans caught me about 5km into the mountain bike leg.  Coming into the second transition he had about a 3minute lead on me.  I felt good and managed to catch him on the last single track section.  Winning today is fantastic,” says Marais, who promises to be back in 2014 for his hat-trick win.  Kevin Evans came in second, while Kent Horner finished third.

“With sore legs you can only push so hard,” laughs Van Huyssteen, who is also taking part in her very first Big Five Challenge this year.  “My breathing was really good on the day, but my legs just didn’t want to respond.  I ran really hard on the first run.  I was really impressed with Candice Neetling, she did really well.  On the bike my plan was just to remain constant.  Candice caught me on the 14km mark on the mountain bike leg and entered transition with at least a 3 minute lead on me.  I in turn managed to catch her on the 5km mark of the second run.  I pushed as hard as possible as I didn’t want her to surprise me later in the run.  I am really relieved with the win.  The Totalsports XTERRA PEZULA is definitely just as tough as the other XTERRA’s, if not tougher”.   Candice Neetling came in second, while Gail Willimott finished third.

Dylan Rebello was unstoppable in the men’s TOTALSPORTS XTERRA Lite presented by REHIDRAT® SPORT completing the course in a deserving time of 01hour03minutes27seconds.  Michael Lord came in second, while Philip Jordaan finished third.

Jessica Alcock was the lady to beat in the TOTALSPORTS XTERRA Lite presented by REHIDRAT® SPORT completing the course in 01hour22minutes.  Famke Allan came in second, while Gayle Momsen finished third.

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