Trail runs and night rides are here to stay on the St Francis sporting calendar, as Port St Francis is the ideal venue for these late afternoon or early evening events with a great technical course in the near vicinity. Especially the junior riders enjoyed Saturday’s event, and will hopefully be back next time with even more contenders.

Speeding through for this fourth and final lap during the Magiclight Day & Night Ride, winner Kevin Taljaard. Photo: Tanya Loots

The second Magiclight Day & Night Trail Run and Ride was held on Saturday March 19 and although its success was not the amount of participants, the great sportsmanship, encouragement and the challenge of competing against yourself as well as against other participants were the winning recipe.  The course was said to be quite technical and included single track, dirt road, steps and a wooded walkway.

Participants could enter any or all of three events, the 5km day run, the 5km lap day ride or the 5km lap night ride that only started at 20:00.  The Strydom brothers, Mathew and Josh both entered the under 12 run and finished in first and second place respectively, with Thomas Shaw in third place.  Under 17 boys category was won by Andrew Birch with Darren Hay behind him, and Katelin Birch was the only brave girl who entered this race – she deserved her gold medal!  The Open Men Day Ride was won by Roland Peacock with his brother-in-law Grant Marais behind him, and in third place was Port St Francis’s Brent Mills.  St Francis Bay ladies showed they have what it takes to enjoy trail running, with Zonja Ras in first place, Ana Maria Hay in second while Tracy Kennedy and Lindsay Peacock sprinted for a shared third place!

The under 12 day ride was won by Rosie Loots with Elze Cilliers in second place and the under 12 boys saw Brendon Ryder in first place.  Brendon’s handle bar broke just after he finished the first lap – he cycled home, fixed it himself and continued to finish the second lap, the only under 12 boy who did two laps!  Second was Jarred Minnie, third Tyron Stewart and a well deserved medal went to Jan-Daniel Cilliers as the youngest competitor by far!

The under 17 category started to become very interesting, when Andrew Birch quickly changed his running shoes for his cycling shoes.  He won the ride, with Regard Viljoen second and Jamie Loots in third place.  Nicole Stark won her gold medal for finishing the under 17 division.

The Open Men was won by Sean Kennedy, second was Roland Peacock and Grant Marais.  The Ladies had Jenny Stark in first position, Tracy Kennedy in second and Hannelo Cilliers in third.

Open Men's and Ladies winners in the day trail run was Lindsay Peacock (3rd), Ana Maria Hay (2nd), Zonia Ras (1st), Grant Marais (2nd), Tracy Kennedy (3rd) and Roland Peacock (1st). Absent: Brent Mills (3rd)

As the night ride was done during full moon a bunch of under 12’s decided they can do this ride without headlamps!  Jeffrey Stewart finished in first position, with Julian Taute in second and the girls division was won by Danielle Kotze who had Timon Jordaan on her tail for the entire two laps.  Well done!

Again the under 17′s delivered outstanding performance – Andrew Birch finished the night ride first, Regard Viljoen was second and Jamie Loots third.  They all did three laps in the available 60 minutes.

The Open Men’s division saw a great performance from Kevin Taljardt, who used this event as part of his training for the Cape Epic.  He finished four laps in just over one hour, with Grant Marais finishing his third event of the day in second place and Jesse Haines in third position – they both finished three laps.

Heidi Koen took the honours of the Open Ladies with Shona Marais in second place and Lindsay Peadock in third place, who both did two events for the day.

A big thank you for the great support from parents who brought their children from far to participate, and to especially the Marais and Peacock families who participated with their children (and the children’s friends) in all three events!

The fact that the event took place on the night when the moon was the closest to the earth in many years made it even more special with supporters waiting on Squid Square for riders to pass.

This event will become a monthly event, as is it a fantastic course at an even greater venue.  A big thank you to Port St Francis for allowing us to use the facility.