Allison Morton. Remember the name. And remember that you heard it here first.
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| Allison Morton - A champion in the making |
The daughter of Smooth Knobblies Warren and Shani Morton, Allison is a well mannered and polite young lady. But put her onto the saddle of a mountain bike and her eyes glaze over; her knuckles clench white; the cute exterior demeanor is transformed into one tough cookie; and anyone in front of her becomes a target....
Apart from gaining her Western Cape colours in running this year, she was also selected to ride for Western Cape at the Spur School Mountain Bike National Champs in Magaliesberg this year. Here is her race report (written by her):
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| Allison reluctantly trading her Smooth Knobblies colours for her Western Cape racing kit (looks mighty smart!!) |
What an incredible experience! This awesome trip started off
on Friday the 20th of September, when I flew up to Jozi. The Friday
afternoon I registered and rode the 4.2km course during the official practice.
It was great to ride the course with my dad and to see how the route is laid
out so that I would know what to expect over the weekend for the 2 races. On
the Saturday it was the race between all the best mountain bike schools in
South Africa from which all qualified through their provincial system. I was
invited to come to the race as an individual because I was the top sub junior in
the Western Cape school league series.
The competition was even fiercer than I thought because the
national best from Zimbabwe and Namibia were also competing with us. We had to
do two laps of 4,2km. The girls groups were set off two minutes between each
other in the order of junior – youth – sub junior. That was kind of a problem
because I caught the group in front of me quite soon and got stuck somewhat as the
single track made it very difficult to pass.
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| Allison powering her way towards the podium |
My race went well and I came fourth
in my category, sub junior (u/14). One place from the podium… On Saturday night
it was the Awards Function, where they had the prize giving for the day and the
staff from Bekker School made us a delicious dinner.
At the end of the prize giving they had a big surprise. The
top three in all the categories not only got to race for their province, but
the provincial teams were all handed a provincial cycling shirt with their
province’s name on it. On the Sunday morning everyone had to be there to
collect their shirts. They read every name and handed out the shirts. They took
a photo of every provincial team together – this was a great experience! As the
top sub junior in the Western Cape league series I represented our province,
which was a great honour for me.
The main aim for Sunday was for the provinces to race against
each other and to determine the best provincial MTB team in South Africa. Zimbabwe
and Namibia raced with us again. During my race I had my eyes set on a podium
position and I got it right! I managed to go one position better - I was third
in my race! I was so happy and proud of myself!
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| Allison claims her Bronze at the Schools National MTB Champs! |
When all the racing was finished, they had the
prize giving. I got a big bronze medal and a R50 voucher from Spur. It was a
great experience and I learnt a lot. I am very grateful to my family, all my
supporters and the people from AMA Rider for making this weekend possible which
was so well organised and an experience I will never forget!
Note from the Ed: Allison - the entire Smooth Knobblies group is very proud of you and your achievements! Good luck with the rest of your competitions to come. As long as you're having fun, it doesn't really matter where you finish. (Simon says he's been close to a few podiums before....but that was to deliver a speech at a tourism event in Malmesbury - so it doesn't really count. Tony says he was near a podium in a courtroom once - but that too doesn't really count.)
But we selfishly do claim you as one of ours!! Congratulations again!!
