Dan Hugo made good after his disappointing race at the SA Xterra Championships of 2009 where he suffered a technical and did not finish, when he won the 2010 title in Grabouw on Saturday 20 February. This time round though Hugo was in sublime form. Emerging from the 40seconds behind Kent Horner in the 1.5km swim, Hugo soon caught and past Horner on the 25km Mountain Bike course. According to Hugo the one lap 1500m swim favoured the stronger swimmers over the two 750m laps normally swum “as it is more tiring.”
Hugo passed Horner on a steep section of the bike course where both athletes were pushing their bikes.
“I hopped onto mine before him and just kept peddling. I only realised 10minutes later when I looked over my shoulder that I had managed to open a sizeable gap. The mountain bike route was an awesome combination of cross country and marathon racing.”
The very hot weather conditions though did ensure that Hugo did not race on the rivet as he wanted some reserves for the 10km trail run. According to Hugo it was a “classic and you needed to prepare yourself mentally for it, but being on my home turf was a huge advantage with all the support I was getting from the spectators.”
Hugo clocked 1:18;17 for the 25km MTB leg; 6 minutes faster than Horner. Hugo’s time was the fastest on the day for the MTB leg, but more was expected from Nico Pfitzenmaier who has won the Cape Epic mixed title on a number of occasions.
Needing only 45 minutes for the 10km trail run, Hugo crossed the line in 2:22:29, seven minutes ahead of Horner with Pfitzenmaier rounding out the top three in 2:31;46.
Mari Rabie was in awe-inspiring form. She came out of the water a mere 7 seconds behind then second placed male, Dan Hugo. Despite being a bit stressed before the swim as she realized her bike had a puncture, Rabie was never going to lose this one. Her father was able to fix the puncture whilst she was in the water.

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