Top South African XTERRA athletes Dan Hugo and Jeannie Bomford started the XTERRA South Africa racing season off with a bang on Thursday when they competed in the first leg of the action-packed 2008/2009 DUESOUTH XTERRA presented by Nissan at the beautiful PEZULA Private Estate.

Hugo crossed the finish line in 01hour41minutes, securing himself a first place position in the individual men's category of the event. Hugo specifically returned home this week to compete in Knysna after spending just over three months racing in America and Europe.

According to Hugo, his fitness level is not where he'd like it to be and had he not won he would still have been happy just to compete.

"Today's race was really nice, it was a perfect Winter's day with no rain nor wind. I did the first run a little faster than I would have liked to in order to keep up with all the other athletes. Due to the recent rain, the mountain-bike route was wet and slippery, just the way I like it, more challenging.

Jan Schutte came in second with a time of 01hours42minutes07seconds, while Nico Pfitzenmaier (Germany) finished third with a time of 01hours44minutes47seconds.

Jeannie Bomford crossed the finish line in 01hours53minutes01second, securing herself a first place position in the individual women's category of the event. According to Bomford she had a great race and is really happy with her performance on the day.

First place in the DUESOUTH XTERRA men's team category went to team New Balance M&M, while team Trial & Error came first in the women's team category. The top three places in the individual men's category of the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE went to Andries Louw, Patrick Baranskky and Herman Carstens, while the first three places in the individual women's category went to Annmart Laubscher, Angi Stanford and Aneen Kock. Team Robertson came first in the team category of the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE.

The DUESOUTH XTERRA Knysna featured two disciplines where individual athletes or teams of two could tackle the challenge of the XTERRA, which consisted of a 3km trail run, 25km mountain bike and 10km trail run. Newcomers to the sport competed either as individuals or in 2-member teams in the DUESOUTH XTERRA LITE, which consisted of a three disciplines, namely a 3km trail run, 12km mountain bike and 3 km trail run.

Athletes will be able to enjoy a well-deserved rest before the second leg of the 2008/2009 DUESOUTH XTERRA presented by Nissan kicks off on Saturday, 21 March 2009 at Buffelspoort Dam (North West Province).

AFP

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