The penultimate event of the BIG5 Sport Challenge, The Momentum Health OatWell DualX powered by PeptoPro, took place on Thursday, 7 July 2016 at the 33rd annual Pick N Pay Knysna Oyster Festival with Stuart Marais and Andrea Steyn clocking the fastest times.
By achieving the times, they did, Stuart and Andrea cemented their spots at the top of the overall standings of the BIG5 Sport Challenge men’s and ladies’ races. The popular, high endurance DualX challenge kicked off with a 5km run followed by a gruelling 30km off-road cycle and finished with another 2.5km run.
Stellenbosch-based professional triathlete, Stuart Marais, continued his dominance after winning both the 15km Featherbed Trail Run and The Momentum Weekend Argus Knysna Cycle Tour MTB Race and coming in third in a hotly contested Dragons Featherbed Lagoon Mile Swim earlier in the week.
The four time BIG5 champ maintains his lead ahead of fellow triathlete Theo Blignaut.Stuart impressed everyone with a time of 1 hour and 33 minutes, finishing ahead of Theo Blignaut and Dean Hopf who came in second and third respectively after three gruelling off-road challenges.
“In a week long activity like this you have to time your efforts. Although the Featherbed is a really hard run, I felt like I held back nicely and the goal for this week was to be fresh for the Momentum Health OatWell Dual X,” said Stuart on his win.
After having a great day on the bike, Stuart gave everything he could possibly give on the run and in the end it proved to be more than enough!
Andrea Steyn went into the days’ challenge leading the pack in the ladies’ division and fifth on the overall BIG5 leader board. She has her sights set on claiming a 2nd consecutive BIG5 win, having already won the Momentum Weekend Argus Knysna Cycle Tour MTB Race and the Featherbed Trail Run (15km) and coming in third for the Dragons Featherbed Lagoon Mile Swim.
Andrea finished in a time of 1 hour 53 minutes ahead of 2nd placed Fienie Barnard. Andrea had a tough race today, possibly the toughest of all the events so far. The mountain biking was really difficult, and Fienie showed her true mountain biking talent and caught Andrea with 10km to go.
“I am really glad to have been able to stay on her wheel for the rest of the bike, and then push it in the run again to finish first.The Momentum Health OatWell Dual X was a great event, we were really privileged to have it here and I am sure next year there will be a lot more people racing it,” said Andrea after a gruelling day out.
With the final Momentum Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon and Half Marathon race taking place on Saturday, 9 July 2016, Stuart and Andrea remain the two to watch!
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