Last month saw Lindani’s fifth annual Top of the Waterberg take place on the weekend of 23-24 August. As with last year, we ran the MTB Challenge on Saturday, followed by the Trail Run on Sunday. This is proving to be a winning formula, allowing for groups of friends and family who have taken up the different disciplines, to enjoy a weekend away together. Lindani’s Top of the Waterberg events, provide varying distances and levels of technicality that cater to both the competitive athlete, as well as the “weekend warrior.” Children and youngsters are encouraged to take part, in line with Lindani’s family friendly ethos.
Motseng provides an ideal “Race Village”, with its shady lawns over-looking the Start/Finish of the events, its beautiful big swimming pool, for cooling down in after your ride/run, and its open-plan main building allowing easy access for the Lindani kitchen’s food and beverage sales. Adding to the general buzz, were the stalls from the Coffee Snob, Jagveld Brouery and Rudy Project. This year also saw the setting up of a stall by the Limpopo Cancer Association, who provided free sunscreen to participants.
And the athletes certainly needed sunscreen this year! From a cold start at the beginning of the month, the weather most suddenly turned into Summer, with temperatures reaching a high of 36/37 degrees! Calls for an earlier start to the events will certainly be acted upon for future races scheduled in Aug!
We are delighted to see the growth in interest in the Top of the Waterberg event, with approximately 250 entrants to the MTB Race and the Trail Run respectively. As always, we applaud every participant who completes the event – those medals are well deserved! Special congratulations must go to the winners of all our categories, the detailed results of which can be
found on ROR Events. We would like to give special acknowledgement to the Overall winner of the 60km MTB event: Selaelo Hlako in an incredible time of 2:31:09:6; The Overall 60km female, Karli Van Wyk, in an excellent time of 3:13:56:9; the Overall winner of the 21km Trail run, Jacques Burger, in an excellent time of 1:38:58:6 and the Overall Female winner in the 21km Trail run, Maryke Carstens, also in an excellent time of 1:50:43:8. Well done all.
Special thanks must go to our sponsors Rudy Project Eyewear, Thule South Africa, Painted Wolf Wines, 226ERS Sports Nutrition, Lindani Game and Lodges and The Big Red Barn Trails for their generous sponsorship of podium prizes, lucky draw prizes and products for the races. Their support is much appreciated!
It seems a great time was had by all, with the screening of the rugby and braai on Saturday evening adding to the vibe and excitement. Thank you to everyone – participants, supporters, family, friends, sponsors and Lindani Staff – for making the event the success that it was. We hope to see you all again next year!
September in the Waterberg is particularly beautiful, with spring flowers pushing through the winter grasses. While weekends are filling up quickly, if you are lucky enough not to be office bound, take advantage of our Stay for 3 nights, Pay for 2 Midweek special, running from 13 Oct-3 Dec. Our privately situated self-catering lodges, only two and a half hours away from Pretoria, with premade meals delivered to your doorstep should you choose, makes it all is so easy to escape the busy city life to the tranquillity of the bushveld. Make your booking soon for a little springtime renewal and rejuvenation!