“Fast paced and exciting” would aptly describe the first day of the racing at the SA Omnium championship held at the Olympic standard Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town. The event hosted this year on short notice by Western Cape Cycling and organised by Western Province Cycling Association brought the best in South Africa to the Mother City.
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Local born “the Hoff”, Nolan Hoffman, from team Abantu turned up the heat from the first gun, winning 2 out of the 3 events in the elites category, only to be outdone by his team mate Morné van Niekerk winning the individual pursuit. Evan Carstens (Team Giant Yorkshire) from Durbanville, Shameeg Salie (Cape Town Giants) and Stefan Ihlenfeldt (Lights By Linea) gave it their best in the bunch races, while the Gauteng riders Ryan Gibbons (VWE/Europcar) and Steven van Heerden (VWE/ Europcar) faired better in the pursuit.
Our own Elfriede Wolfaardt (TrackCyclingSA), however, wanted it all and secured points in all three elite ladies events. Elisa Gianchino (Complete Cyclist) and Ilze Bole (Team Computer Smith) from Gauteng where short on her heels.
The veterans and masters categories saw Martin van Wyk (VWE / Europcar) leading the pack, carrying forward his great form from the recent World Masters Track Championship in Manchester, England where he represented South Africa.
Bradley Gouveris, Damean Oosthuizen, Daniyal Matthews and Kyle De Wet are neck-and-neck in the juniors category, while Abdul Muttalib Sauls, Jarrad Clark and Divan Barnard lead the u/16 category.
The Omnium will continue tomorrow, Thursday 5 November, to complete the mandatory 6 events participants have to compete in. Who will be the ultimate champion?
Provisional results after day one;
| Elite | |
| Nolan Hoffman | 118 |
| Evan Carstens | 98 |
| Morné van Niekerk | 92 |
| Steven Van Heerden | 88 |
| Stefan Ihlenfeldt | 88 |
| Shameeg Salie | 86 |
| Jean Spies | 84 |
| Calvin Beneke | 84 |
| Ryan Gibbons | 82 |
| Kellan Gouveris | 72 |
| Rudie kellerman | 64 |
| Rohan Du Plooy | 54 |
| Carl Bonthuys | 40 |
| Daniël Stroebel | 38 |
| Douglas Abbot | 36 |
| Marco Abrahams | 34 |
| Dirkie Nel | 23 |
| Jared Poulton | 21 |
| Brandon Robin Christians | 20 |
| Corne Bence | 20 |
| Heinrich Stroebel | 17 |
| Kyle Bradford | 3 |
| Masters 45+ | |
| Martin van Wyk | 118 |
| Bruce Viljoen | 98 |
| John Moss | 64 |
| Masters 35+ | |
| Mark-Lister Petersen | 104 |
| Chrispin Fourie | 102 |
| Faizel Thomas | 98 |
| Peter-John Wheeler | 88 |
| Justin Seale | 86 |
| Abdul Quayum Davids | 82 |
| Moses Venceslau | 78 |
| Faizel Hendricks | -7 |
| Open Ladies | |
| Elfriede Wolfaardt | 120 |
| Elisa Gianchino | 114 |
| Ilze Bole | 106 |
| Bronwyn Abrahams | 102 |
| Liezel Du Preez | 96 |
| Junior Ladies | |
| Jessica Gerber | 63 |
| U/16 | |
| Abdul Muttalib Sauls | 118 |
| Jarrad Clark | 116 |
| Divan Barnard | 100 |
| Titus Juries | 73 |
| Ashleigh Parsons | 65 |
| Jessica Brown | 65 |
| Juniors | |
| Bradley Gouveris | 116 |
| Damean Oosthuizen | 110 |
| Daniyal Matthews | 108 |
| Kyle De Wet | 108 |
| George Perrins | 94 |
| Louis Visser | 63 |
| Rocco King | 55 |
| Azhar Abrahams | 53 |
| Wynand Dippenaar | 45 |
| Rainhardt Marais | 43 |
| Renaldo Booysen | 43 |
| Johann Bredenkamp | 39 |
| Johnathen Brown | 39 |
Photos will be added once made available. Thanks to Salie Toefy (Cycling with Double ST) and Owen Lloyed (sponsor, from Intellibus and Arrow Lite) for your commitment to capture the excitiment.