{"id":301451,"date":"2026-06-12T17:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/?p=301451"},"modified":"2026-06-12T17:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:25:41","slug":"next-challenge-beckons-as-mtb-gravel-road-series-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/next-challenge-beckons-as-mtb-gravel-road-series-heats-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Next challenge beckons as MTB gravel road series heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After the Sungazer, the next challenge awaiting cyclists is Race2TheKaroo on 29 August.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sungazer took place from Tiffany&#8217;s in Bloemfontein on 30 May. This was round three of the Oryx Unbound Gravel Series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was preceded by Race2TheSky in February, and Matsa in March; after Race2TheKaroo, the series will be concluded with Battle of the Bikes on 3 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mauritz Jurack is in the lead of the Unbound 100 Miler, defending his title. In the women&#8217;s Unbound, Jolida van der Merwe is dominating. Tommie Ferreira and Colleen Jacobs rule the Quest, whilst Rantso Ramabanta alongside Elizca Jacobs command the Dash.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"503\" data-attachment-id=\"301593\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/next-challenge-beckons-as-mtb-gravel-road-series-heats-up\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"600,503\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Oryx Endurance Event Management\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-301593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n.jpg 600w, https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/719171797_1471820631629261_8248354544806132812_n-300x252.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-sungazer-podium-finishers-are-as-follows\">The Sungazer podium finishers are as follows:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-unbound-100-miler\">Unbound 100 Miler<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Men:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gideon Geldenhuys in first place (5:02:39); <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wouter Bester second (5:15:12); and <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nico van der Merwe third (5:15:18). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jolida van der Merwe first (6:21:33); <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lizanne Lombard in second place (6:46:51); and <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Willemien Jooste third (7:13:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-quest-75-km\">Quest 75 km<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Men: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flip Viviers first (2:29:34); <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jan Jurie Loots in second place (2:29:39); and <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tommie Ferreira (2:48:20) third. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colleen Jacobs in first place (2:48:19;, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fran-Mari Lombard second (3:32:21); and <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ronel van Schalkwyk third (3:40:33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-dash-44-km\">Dash 44 km<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Men: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rolfe Brecher in first place (1:28:22); <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rantso Ramabanta second (1:49:46); and <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rory Isaacs third (1:51:59). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elizca Jacobs first (1:49:11); <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An\u00e8 Joubert in second place (1:56:47); and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chriselda Liebenberg third (2:04:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/oryxendurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oryx Endurance Event Management<\/a> for more information. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Round three of the Oryx Unbound Gravel Series was completed with the Sungazer Challenge, while Ride2TheKaroo awaits cyclist. 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PHOTO: Oryx Endurance Event Management","article_media_icon":"1","article_template":"news","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"Next challenge beckons as gravel road series heats 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Oryx_P1"],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28,22],"tags":[10033,8915,7955,10032],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-301451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-sport","tag-mtb-challenge","tag-oryx-endurance-event-management","tag-sport","tag-sungazer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Next challenge beckons as MTB gravel road series heats up | Noordkaap Bulletin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Round three of the Oryx Unbound Gravel Series was completed with the Sungazer Challenge, while Ride2TheKaroo awaits cyclist.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/next-challenge-beckons-as-mtb-gravel-road-series-heats-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Next challenge beckons as MTB gravel road series heats up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Round three of the Oryx Unbound Gravel Series was completed with the Sungazer Challenge, while Ride2TheKaroo awaits cyclist.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/noordkaapbulletin\/next-challenge-beckons-as-mtb-gravel-road-series-heats-up\/\" 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