.

the 2011 running of the 105km marathon running between hilton and hilcrest took place in very hot conditions over the weekend.although my training has started to slip alittle as we near the end of the season and i have a proper break.i still have good shape from the training i did for world champs and was eager to put it to good use.



my shop concept cyclery was also a sponsor of the event so it was an important weeknd for me all round.i travelled up n saturday to get my bike tuned at the shop and then on to pmb as the race was kicking off at a very early 6am on sunday morning.



the route was pretty similar as in the past but with alot of added singletrack.the first long descent from hilton to pmb is now all singletrack and alot of fun.from pmb there was some easy roads to get the avg speed up before the hard work starts around the halfway mark.



at the front of the race we were a group of around 8 for most of the day untill we hit the notorious batletts climb from with 30km remaining in the race.i knew this would be a realy decisive part in the race and stayed very attentive.brandon stewardt made the first move and then i sort off countered on top.only the 360-life guys stayed with us untill we reached the singletrack descent.on the steep rise as we entered the singletrack i made a move and got a small gap which i stretched from there on out.i had great legs for the last hour and just my head down to win in 3hrs 55min and 43 sec.its been a long time since ive raced for that amount off time and i defnitely relied on my usn bcaa vitargo heavily as it was super hot out.



this weekend ill be racing in hilton again.this time in the last round of the mtn series.i hear the 110km route is very tough so it should be a good one.



cheers