---

Struggling Through the Stormberg

News Release / 26.06.2009

Over the last few days riders in the 2009 Freedom Challenge non-stop mountain bike race have relived a piece of history. Having left Pietermaritzburg over a period of 4 days they then headed through southern Kwa Zulu Natal and on to the small town of Rhodes in the Ukuhlamba District of the Eastern Cape. From there they have followed the route and most of the participants have experienced the hardship of General Jan Smuts and his commando as they moved through the Stormberg area 100 years ago.

Freedom Challenge extreme triathlete Andrew Barnes, who left Pietermaritzburg with the first group on 13 June, after running from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in the inaugural 85km Duzi Trail Run the previous day, set the early pace in the bike race. Keeping ahead of the record-breaking pace of last year’s winner, Tim James, he managed to get through the Stormberg and into the Karoo before the recent spate of bad weather set in.

However, James of Team Squirt riding Scott who started from Pietermaritzburg 4 days after Barnes not only matched Barnes’ early efforts but left Rhodes, 500 kms into the race, with an effective 6 hour lead on Barnes. This lead of James soon disappeared as the recent cold front swept through the Stormberg. Pushing through the village of Rossouw and past the farm Vaalbank in the shadow of the Hangberg outside Jamestown, James was unable to reach the interim stop of Brosterlea, near Molteno, and bedded down for the night on a bale of sheep’s wool on the farm Gouvlei near Rustmynziel, birthplace of the writer Hennie Aucamp. The following morning, feeling the effects of an uncomfortable night and battling headwinds James was then only able to progress through the site of the battle of Stormberg to the next support station of Romansfontein near Molteno. A comparison of the time that James left Romansfontein with tha t of Barnes at the same point showed that James had effectively surrendered the lead to Barnes.

Whilst James was slowing down, Barnes crossed the Plains of the Camdeboo and, in a day of big riding, dropped through the Groot Rivier Poort and down the Osseberg jeep track that runs through the Baviaanskloof Wilderness area to reach the small farming community of Cambria. From there he rode up the length of the Baviaanskloof and on to the town of Willowmore arriving shortly before midnight on Monday night. With 60 km/hr headwinds predicted in the Karoo on Tuesday it remains to be seen whether Barnes can now build on his advantage.

See All Stories On This Race