Looser wins bronze at Garden Route Giro
Vera Looser was Namibia’s top performer at the inaugural Garden Route Giro in the Western Cape over the weekend after finishing third overall in the elite women’s category. Marielle Touwborst of The Netherlands won the elite women’s category, completing the six-stage race in 19 hours 9 minutes and 22 seconds, while Lisa Bone of South […] The post Looser wins bronze at Garden Route Giro appeared first on The Namibian.
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Vera Looser was Namibia’s top performer at the inaugural Garden Route Giro in the Western Cape over the weekend after finishing third overall in the elite women’s category.
Marielle Touwborst of The Netherlands won the elite women’s category, completing the six-stage race in 19 hours 9 minutes and 22 seconds, while Lisa Bone of South Africa came second in 19:24:52, and Looser third in 19:38:04.
In a video posted on her FB page, Looser said it was a tough race.
“I think I need a week to recover from this its been brutally hard. If you ask me right now I’ll say I wont do it again but I say that after every Cape Epic as well. It’s very tough, it’s hard racing with the men, and it’s bumpy, but it’s also beautidful, it’s nice to dig deep, and it’s a cool community and cool cameraderie out there, I really enjoy that,” she said.
“I probably do still feel the Cape Epic in my legs, and doing two such hard stage races after each other was maybe not so clever, but also coming into this I didn’t expect it to be quite this hard, so maybe I underestimated it a bit,” she added.
The Garden Route Giro started in Herbertsdale on 13 April and concluded with the sixth and final stage from Knysna to the Wilderness on 18 April. It covered a total of 684km and included 11 300m of vertical climbing, ranging from the rugged coastline of Mossel Bay to the lush coastal forests of the Wilderness.
The route crossed towering mountain passes, rolling farmlands, deep river valleys, and the arid expanse of the Karoo, before returning to the ocean’s edge.
Cronje Beukes of South Africa won the elite mens race in 16:49:27, followed by compatriots Marco Joubert (16:57:55) and Wessel Botha (16:58:13).
Martin Freyer of Namibia came 12th in the elite men’s category and 13th overall in 18:30:00, while Jaques Hanekom came 14th in the elite men’s category and 22nd overall in 19:41:20.
The post Looser wins bronze at Garden Route Giro appeared first on The Namibian.
