Jackson and Exelby win in Kamanassie wilderness

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Kamanassie. If the name conjured up visions of Heaven and Hell in anticipation of today's 103 km, fourth stage of the Cape Pioneer Trek, then, at the end of the day, it was indelibly imprinted on the traumatised psyches of all who rode into this immense wilderness area between De Rust and Uniondale.

The leading teams spent all but an hour and a bit of today's heavy-duty challenge getting in and out of this gloriously beautiful "Nowhere Land" to finish in 5:36:37 - with half a minute between the top two teams. For the second day in a row, Donovan Jackson and Roan Exelby (Tread Magazine) took the stage honours from general classification leaders Erik Kleinhans and Johnny Kritizinger (Memory Foundation-Velotex). And with Squirt's Lieb Loots and Cornelius Muller less than a minute back and still third after this stage's 2,444m of climbing, the general classification at the top remains more-or-less the same.

Strong winds were again a feature of today's serious struggle. These blew cold in and out of Kamanassie. When that part of the ordeal was over, there were still 60 odd kilometres of rolling country roads (with one nasty pimple in the middle) to contend with.

Today's upset came, again, in the mixed section where general classification leaders Peter and Ischen Stopforth (Marsillio Products) were convincingly trounced by Schwinn's Petrus Malherbe and Janneke Leask (6:07:59) who are now only two-and-a-half minutes from the top classification position. Fienie Barnard and Esther Lategan were impressive yet again in the women's category with a zesty 6:39:54.

The Infradev Dunkeld Cycle Veteran's team of Gus Klohn and Mark Wiederkehr took today's stage to stay at the top in their category - but once again, very much in the shadow of the Sludge "super-toppies", masters category leaders, Brian Strauss and Linus van Onselen, in a head-shaking 6:11:12. What made the latter's performance even more remarkable was that Van Onselen lost the sole of one shoe in the middle of the wilderness and having tacked it together with cable ties, was obliged to limp in with a severely impaired pedal stroke.

The dynamic European duo of Christoph Sauser and Bobby Behan, who were on the podium yesterday, had mechanical problems in the Kamanassie - as did the Squirt boys when Muller punctured again. The Specialized-Songo men, who are the most popular team in the event, were rumoured, like so many other teams, to have suffered a slight lapse in their highly developed senses of humour.

Apparently senses of humour took a general pounding along with other more tangible, physical, aspects of interaction with today's route. There were certainly a few disgruntled back-markers coming out of Kamanassie as survivors more than competitors. And even riders who thrive in technical conditions admitted, sadly, that they were too tired to enjoy the descents.

In the wilderness section, there were scenes reminiscent of a war zone and special arrangements had to be made to evacuate those "casualties" who were quite willing, for the most part, to admit that their "injuries" were mainly the result of inadequate preparation: they just ran out of legs! But they had been warned and many of those who "bailed" today acknowledged this reason and were unstinting in their praise of the organisation and of the event generally. Now they know what to expect.

Tomorrow's 113km stage to George has been described as "probably the hardest" of the race.

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