Age group bronze at 20th Berge en Dale for unwell Butler
Reynard was unfortunately unable to defend his Berge en Dale title.
While unable to defend his overall title due to feeling unwell, Reynard Butler was able to earn a third place spot in the 30–39 age group at this year’s Berge en Dale.
Reynard, who was able to win what is arguably the West Rand’s toughest cycle classic last year, opted to attempt to defend his title this year rather than head to Rwanda for the Tour du Rwanda with the other members of ProTouch’s Continental Team. Unfortunately for Reynard, who had been looking good thus far this season, he didn’t feel quite 100 per cent when race day rolled around, meaning he wouldn’t be able to make a sufficient charge for the title.
According to ProTouch Cycling’s team manager Tony Harding, even though Reynard wasn’t feeling great, they were still able to utilise his skill and expertise to aid the other ProTouch cyclists taking part in the race. “We used him to close a two-minute gap to try and set up Songezo Jim,” Tony said. The tactic seemed to pay off, as Songezo was the second ProTouch cyclist over the line, finishing with a time of 2:31:06 in 13th place in the overall standings.
Songezo’s impressive effort was only 28 seconds shy of teenager Tiano da Silva who, as the first ProTouch cyclist over the line, managed to finish in a time of 2:30:28. He finished as the second-placed junior cyclist, 37 seconds behind junior winner, Travis Stedman, after cycling the race at an average speed of 43,07km/h
Despite Tiano’s monumental effort, he simply wasn’t able to keep up with the two breakaway riders Jason Oosthuizen and Marc Pritzen. Prior to the race, Marc was pipped as one of the favourites to seal the win at the 20th Berge en Dale race, but fellow teenager Jason Oosthuizen had other ideas.
The race finished on a tough incline this year, and this allowed for a tough sprint into the finish for the two youngsters. At the start of the climb, Marc seemed to be slightly edging Jason, but Jason timed his acceleration perfectly and managed to edge past Marc by a matter of centimetres and split seconds.
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