The Sabie Classics Marathon was the first stop of the Marathon World Series over the weekend. Many of the marathon professionals used the race to prepare for the Absa Cape Epic, which starts in four weeks, including Urs Huber and Karl Platt. In addition to the Bulls duo, the Rose Vaujany team around Simon Gegenheimer and Steffen Thum also traveled. After heavy rain, however, the start of the season turned out to be quite complicated. While Platt and Huber were able to break away from the start, Thum and Gegenheimer struggled with technical problems with their rear brakes.
“This isn’t the start I wanted for us. But we’ve never been able to test our new brake pads under such extreme conditions before. It’s a shame we only gained this experience during the race and not in training,” said a very annoyed Steffen Thum, who had to abandon the race after 80 kilometers in the last tech zone with his support team, Christian Wenzler.
Meanwhile, things couldn't have gone better for Huber and Platt. Their closest pursuer, Kevin Evans, continued to lose ground and it was to be a battle between the two team-mates, with Huber having the better of it. He finished after 5:28:57 hours and secured victory. Platt is second followed by Evans, who crossed the finish line almost 15 minutes after Huber. The Bulls duo seems to have done their homework and started the season with a double win.
The women's race was dominated by Ariane Kleinhans from Switzerland. On the 75-kilometer route, she gained a lead of 8:28 minutes over Robyn de Groot. South African Amy McDougall complements the podium.
result men
1. Urs Huber 5:28:57
2. Karl Platt 5:31:07
3. Kevin Evans 5:43:33
4. Andrew Hill 5:45:51
5. Gert Heyns 5:46:23
result women
1. Ariane Kleinhans 4:22:22
2. Robyn de Groot 4:31:00
3. Amy McDougall 4:34:19
4. Cherise Taylor 4:40:05
5. Candice Neethling 4:41:20