Namibia’s mountain bikers Alex Miller and Anri Krugel were over the weekend crowned Nedbank National Cross-Country champions in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.

The Nedbank National Cross-Country championships were held in the coastal town of Swakopmund on Friday and Saturday.

The two-day event saw Miller successfully defending the elite men’s title which he has won in a row since 2019. The elite women’s category saw Krugel dethroning 2022 champion Monique du Plessis, to be crowned the new Nedbank National women’s cross-country champion.

In the short course category held on Friday, Miller won that race after overpowering Hugo Hahn and Tristan de Lange to once again reclaim that title, while in the national cross-country race that was held on Saturday, Miller came third behind South African rider Alan Hatherly and Danish rider Simon Andreassen who finished first and second respectively.

Miller was just a second behind the winner Hatherly. He was in a photo finish with Andreassen. Hatherly and Andreassen could not claim the national title as they are non-Namibian.

In the women’s category, Du Plessis won the short course race on Friday, finishing ahead of Nicola Fester and Luanne van der Schyff.

The elite cross-country women’s category held on Saturday was won by Krugel who dominated that race finishing 20 minutes ahead of Du Plessis who was in second place, and Van der Schyff who was third and 27 minutes behind the winner.

JG van der Westhuizen won the Under-23 men’s category, Kevin Lowe was crowned the Junior men’s champion, and Eden Spangenberg won the Junior women’s category.

Elvira Dickerson was the first woman to win the E-Bike cross-country category while Andre Steinfurth was the first man to win.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, Miller said it remains a privilege to defend the national title.

“Wearing the national flag is always a huge privilege. I am happy to have competed at this well-organised event and the support from the organiser was good,” he said while calling on more Namibians to take up cycling as a sport.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency