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The 2018 SA National XCO Championships will be held at the Happy Valley Conservancy in the City of Bloemfontein. The venue is easily accessible and in the heart of Bloemfontein, only 13km from the Bloemfontein Airport. The Happy Valley Conservancy is surrounded by a full range of accommodation facilities, with one of the best being Solo Gracia Guest House , only 1,4km from the venue.
Happy Valley Conservancy is situated in Brill Street between Harry Smith Street, Aliwal Street, Collins Road and First Avenue.
For the 2018 Nationals Champs course, we made a few small but important changes. The course was shortened from the 5,0km 2017 route, to 4,5km for 2018. It features hand built single track with plenty of overtaking opportunities with two challenging climbs of 660m (50m ascent) and 350m (40m ascent), natural rock gardens, upgraded pump (flow) track, gap jumps, drop offs and two technical downhill’s.
This year’s course will have two technical and feed zones which will operate back to back.
The elite ladies pre-event start list is filled with the best South African Cross country racers and all the big XCO Riders names are there.
Mariska Strauss will defend her 2017 SA XCO title once again and will work hard to fight off Cherie Redecker who held the title in 2016.
Amy-Beth Mcdougall also lines up on the course and will be looking for a win.
Candice Lill , who was noticeably absent from the SA Marathon Champs last week, will also be hoping to end the day with the jersey on her shoulders.
Sarah hill has a great chance to show her growth this season and hopes to take the win in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
We should see some great racing this weekend.