The first round of the Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup took place in the sleepy hollow of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the home to Morewood Bikes. It was a first of great things to come for Mountain Biking in South Africa and Morewood made themselves well known at the event with one of the best pits on the scene as well as playing host to the afterparty which was held up at CrossWays Pub on the Sunday evening.

The weather couldnt have been any better with constant sun and not a drop of rain which bought on dry and dusty track conditions. The atmosphere was fantastic and there was a big turn out of spectators all buzzing around the pits and up the course to get the best view of some of the worlds best doing their thing.

Practice started on the Thursday, followed by qualifying on Friday, half a days practice on Saturday and racing on Sunday. All Morewood riders were given constant tech support throughout the World Cup and the biggest proplem on our bikes throughout the event was a pringled front wheel. Just shows the quality of a well egineered bike!!!

All Morewood riders managed to qualify for the finals on Sunday, with the likes of Jonty Neethling, Gary Barnard, Vicky Phillips and Pierre Vandermerve from South Africa getting in on the action.

The race went off well with Minnaar taking the win on his home track with a time of 3.43.44 followed by Mick Hannah second and Peaty third. Some of the Morewood riders who pulled out good results to start them off for the world cup season were Fabien COUSINIE finishing 22nd. This guys is a name to watch out for in the future riding under the Morewood United team. Nathan Rennie finished up 11th but didnt have one of his best runs of the weekend. Mitch Delfs, the up and coming youngster riding alongside Nathan in the Kenda/Morewood Team mannaged to pull in a 45th also not having one of his better weekends.

Morewood bikes were the talk of the weekend breaking into the racing scene in a big way, and I believe there are only good things to come! To top the weekend off, Morewood Bikes and Leatt Brace hosted the official UCI World Cup Pietermaritzburg after party at Cross Ways Pub in Hilton just up the road. This turned out to be a huge success with over 900 people coming together and having a good time!

Lets see what next year will have in store for the Morewood crew and Pietermarizburg World Cup!

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