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Eksteen and De Villiers beginning to find form
Friday, 24 July 2009
Claude Eksteen and Hendrik De Villiers are both beginning to find the form that has eluded them so far this year after a series of crashes.
Eksteen competed in the final Bundesliga race in Witten over the weekend with his team, Asics, finishing second. But more importantly he felt that he was getting into great shape for this weekends World Championships Series Race in Hamburg.
Speaking from his base in Davos, Switzerland, Eksteen said that training since the Africa Championships has gone really well and that he can feel the form returning. In his own words ...”eventually!!! I am looking forward to this weekends World Championship Series race in Hamburg so hopefully it goes well. Its strange because this is actually my first "main/big" race of the year after all my crashes!”
Eksteen raced the previous weekend in the final Bundesliga race for 2009 in Offenburg. It was a sprint distance race (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run).
“Our start was at 6:30 in the evening and conditions were perfect with the air temperature around 15 degrees and water 22deg. That made the swim a non-wetsuit swim. I had a really good swim and got into no trouble what so ever.”
Eksteen exited the water with Daniel Unger (2007 World Champ) but in his haste to get to the transition he slipped on the grass exiting the water and fell. “Nothing serious, just a little nock to my ego, ha ha!”
That slip though cost him. He just missed the small front pack of 7 athletes. “I than ended up being in the main pack and got caught from behind by the 2nd and 3rd chase packs. From than on the main focus was just to stay out of trouble and avoid any crashes.” The pack continuously lost time to the leaders and started the run with a 1:30min deficit.
“The run was taken out really hard and I just ran at my own pace and slowly hauled in the guys. I ended up with the same run time as Daniel Unger which was one of the fastest runs of the day.”
The Asics team finished 2nd overall. Hendrik De Villiers was extremely satisfied with his race in France over the weekend. De Villiers finished 17th in a very challenging race.
“The wind was gusting and the cycle route had big cobbles and gravel. The run was half on grass, so not the easiest of courses. But I am happy with my 17th. This was probably my best race of the season” De Villiers ended in the second group as he and a number of other competitors chose the wrong side of the river to swim on.
“I felt really good on the bike though and was able to do some hard, solid work. The run I was more like my old self and am getting better all the time. I thought this was a disastrous season, but it could turn out quite good still.”
De Villiers was 17th, but only 10 seconds separated places 9-17. His next race will also be in Hamburg for the World Championships Series, where he once again will be tested by the best in the World.
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