Hulley takes top honours at the 2023 MaxiRace Cape Winelands

Image Credit – Craig Kolesky/ Nikon

Stellenbosch Mountains = 1 : K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands = 0

The 2023 K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chili Oil will go down in the history books as one of the wettest, muddiest events to date, with on route course changes and exciting river crossings as just some of the highlights of the day. However, these conditions did little to slow down the runners with record speeds being set on most of the routes.

Garden Route runner, Brandon Hulley, ran a strong race on the 75km course, finishing in under 8hrs, with second place going to Joshua Blackshaw 15 minutes later, and third to Didier de Villiers in just under 8 and a half hours.

“I had a great race, it was my first time running in these mountains and it did not disappoint,” says Brandon Hulley. “The route was fast and obviously very wet, but it was awesome to be able to run up in the kloof, it was proper trail running. Great day out in the mountain for me!”

Persistent morning rains played havoc with the 75km route, causing race organisers to make the decision to re-route the course for safety reasons. “We had almost 20ml of rain fall during the morning which led to many of the river crossings becoming increasingly unsafe for our runners and coupled with icy conditions we were very concerned about the possibility of hypothermia,” explains race director, Andri Stander. “We re-routed those runners who had not yet reached the Assegaibos Check Point back along the course, from there we transported them past the most dangerous sections and then allowed them to complete the course from a safe location. The results were adjusted to reflect those who finished the entire course ahead of those who completed the adjusted course.”

Michelle Rolfe took the overall ladies’ podium in a time of 10hrs13min07sec, with Leigh de Necker in 2^nd  and Caro Jordaan in 3^rd.

“The first 50km were absolutely incredible, I loved the run up to there,” says Michelle. “The next almost 30km were incredibly tough and conditions were hard, but it was awesome out there, I really enjoyed myself!”

45km winner, Jacques du Plessis, stunned the race village with an incredible time of 03hrs22min04sec, with John April in second place and Cornel Smuts in 3^rd place.

“I had a great race, we started out very fast and parts of the course were very slippery due to the rain, but I felt really good and am very happy with my results,” says du Plessis.

The 45km ladies’ race was won by Maryke van Zyl in a time of 04hrs14min45sec, with Christelle Hattingh in second place and Monique Agenbag in third.

For a full list of results, please visit www.maxirace.co.za

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