De Villiers beats the heat

OUDTSHOORN NUUS - Oudtshoorn's Yolande de Villiers and Denmark's Simon Andreassen coped relatively well on Saturday with the extreme heat in the Little Karoo whilst obtaining respective victories in the 16th edition of the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme race presented by Biogen.

In the women's race, De Villiers was dominant from the start. "In general I like starting all my races fast. Today, 110 kilometres solo was tough especially in the heat, but I just kept going pouring water over myself at every opportunity and drinking far more than I usually do.

I normally start the Attakwas with a single bottle on my bike, but today I rode with a hydration pack which I had finished before the second water point. It was brutal, but I'm really happy to take the win," an ecstatic De Villiers said.

The Danish cross-country champion, Andreassen echoed De Villiers sentiments: "I've never experienced anything like this. It was the toughest race I've ever done. The course is difficult, but the temperature made it far harder. Luckily for me, I regularly took 20 seconds tactical water intervals to pour cold water on myself which really paid off in the end."

Andreassen speedy water point approach meant he never conceded positions on the road and once he distanced the second-placed Tristan Nortjé with 30 kilometres till the finish line, he was able to claim a commanding victory.