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Golden Opportunity Awaits Top Cyclists In Orkney

Press Release : Release Centre


Over the years, the North West mining town of Orkney has produced some of the world’s deepest and richest gold deposits. But how deep will the country’s top cyclists have to dig to produce their own rewards as the 2009 Alpha Pharm Seeding Series approaches it’s climax at the 100km AGA Cycle Challenge on Sunday?

The 11th of 13 events in the country’s most prestigious road cycling series, the AGA Cycle Challenge, a relatively unknown event, could well turn out to be the key race in determining the final winners of the men and women’s titles in a series that has added some much-needed spark to local road racing.

Men’s Series leader, Arran Brown, along with his Medscheme teammates, will skip the event in favour of contesting the Medscheme Tour de Vino in Franschoek, Western Cape. That could allow the likes of Nolan Hoffman (Neotel), James Ball (House of Paint), Christoff van Heerden and Jay Thomson (both MTN Energade) back into title contention should they collect a podium finish.

In the Women’s Series, the two-way duel between Swedish road champion, Jennie Stenerhag (Alpha Pharm) and former multiple South African champion, Anriette Schoeman (Nashua Telecoms), will resume with the same intensity with which it has been raging since the first race back in February.

Stenerhag recaptured the lead from Schoeman at Round 10, the MTN OFM Classic, in Bloemfontein this past Sunday and now has a far-from-decisive 20-point lead over the South African. With Toyota Supercycling’s Ashleigh Moolman off the bike nursing a broken collarbone, it’s become just a two-rider battle for the coveted title and the majority share of the R100 000 prize purse.

In addition to the 100km event on Sunday, there is also a 50km race, but only the long event is a seeding race for the 2010 Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour and a good conditioning opportunity for Round 12 of the Alpha Pharm Seeding Series, the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge, which takes place on 15 November in Johannesburg.