The year of 2011 is on it’s way out, twice were national events cancelled on raceday and twice was the world supposed to end. But until that day comes, we will ride. And ride they did…

Having been around for a few years now one starts noticing how some faces come and some faces go, and then you notice the faces staying with the aim of reaching the top. After the series sponsor pulled out, cancelled events thanks to mother nature and the usual controversy that can be expected from competitive events like DH the general consensus was that despite all the trials and tribulations it was still a great year of DH racing. Why? because we love this game.

With some of the top riders like Pottie, Tim Bentley and  Stefan Garlicki moving on to bigger and endeavors and competing in the World Cup, there were quite a few interesting surprises on the top end of the log. Hayden Brown took the overall cup, Alan Hatherly is still untouchable and Tiaan Odendaal had a jam packed year with winning the junior men title and also competing at the world cup. Matt Smith and James Morland (happy birthday) cleaned house by comfortably securing the the Sub Vets and Veteran Men titles for Gauteng.

The final points log is as follows:

Jonathan Philogene

Sub Jun Boys 13-14

1              JB            Jonathan Philogene                        600

2              JB            Behan Boshoff                                  420

3              JB            Christopher Philogene                   370

4              JB            Francois Du Toit                                120

5              JB            Tynan Usswald                                  100

Alan Hatherly

Youth Men 15-16

1              YM         Alan Hatherly                                     550

2              YM         Luke Evans                                          330

3              YM         Daniel Saunders                               290

4              YM         Jean-Pierre du Plessis                    245

5              YM         Kyle Fletcher                                      120

6              YM         Joel Andrey                                        120

7              YM         Damien Craig                                     100

8              YM         Ryan Casey                                         95

9              YM         Dylan Jacklin                                       90

10           YM         Theo Erlangsen                                 85

Tiaan Odendaal

Junior Men 17-18

1              JM          Tiaan Odendaal                                 380

2              JM          Alasdair Fey                                        350

3              JM          Kyle Davids                                         295

4              JM          Adi Van Der Merwe                        230

5              JM          Neko Mulally                                     200

6              JM          Sven Pottow                                      195

7              JM          Samuel Bull                                         190

8              JM          Chrisjan Smit                                      90

9              JM          Steve Jackson                                    90

10           JM          Shane Martin                                     65

11           JM          Michael Reid                                      60

12           JM          Roman Kumpers                              55

13           JM          Raymond Acutt                                 50

14           JM          David Blackman                                45

15           JM          Angus Thompson                             40

Rika Olivier

Elite Women 23+

1              EW         Tracy Moseley                                   200

2              EW         Sabrina Jonnier                                 150

3              EW         Fionn Griffiths                                   120

4              EW         Nicole Myriam                                   100

5              EW         Jessica Stone                                     95

6              EW         Rika Olivier                                          90

7              EW         Miriam Ruchti                                    85

8              EW         Emmeline Ragot                               80

Hayden Brown

Elite Men 23+

1              EM         Hayden Brown                                  470

2              EM         Kelvin Purchase                              345

3              EM         Jonty Neethling                               200

4              EM         Aaron Gwin                                        200

5              EM         David Hogan                                       187

6              EM         Gian-Pierre Orselli                           184

7              EM         Roman Roschi                                    150

8              EM         Justin Leov                                          150

9              EM         Chris Nixon                                         136

10           EM         Simon Dinkelman                             130

11           EM         Ryan Frerichs                                     120

12           EM         Lars Peyer                                           120

13           EM         Alexander Bramley                         109

14           EM         Brad Purchase                                   106

15           EM         Johann Potgieter                             100

16           EM         Thomas Jeandin                               100

17           EM         Oscar Harnstrom                              95

18           EM         Florent Payet                                     95

19           EM         Aurelien Giordanengo                   90

20           EM         Dustin Rudman                                 85

21           EM         Thibaut Ruffin                                   85

22           EM         Travis Browning                               80

23           EM         Ian Duxbury                                       75

24           EM         Marnus Swanepoel                         70

25           EM         Dan Stainbridge                                70

26           EM         Joshua Liebenberg                          65

27           EM         Charly Di Pasquale                           65

28           EM         Andre Pretorius                                 60

29           EM         Fabien Barel                                       60

30           EM         Kyle du Toit                                        55

31           EM         Tim Bentley                                        55

32           EM         Mark Malherbe                                  50

33           EM         Ruaridh Cunningham                      50

34           EM         Anthony Brookes                             45

35           EM         Mikael Pascal                                     45

36           EM         Fabian Cousinie                                40

37           EM         James Kennedy                                 38

38           EM         Gaetan Ruffin                                    34

39           EM         Duran Van Eeden                             32

40           EM         Patrick Thome                                   28

41           EM         Jerome Lecoadie                              26

42           EM         Jerome Payet                                    26

43           EM         Pierre Georges                                 24

44           EM         Damien Spagnolo                             22

45           EM         Ludovic Oget                                      20

46           EM         Faustin Figaret                                  18

47           EM         Dricus Pretorius                               11

48           EM         Romain Payet                                    10

49           EM         Jeremy Lebon                                   8

50           EM         Josh Button                                        7

51           EM         Bradly Illingworth                             6

52           EM         David Dinkelman                              5

53           EM         Anythony Botha                               3

Matt Smith

Sub Vet Men Group

1              SV           Matt Smith                                         400

2              SV           Conrad Davies                                   345

3              SV           Mark Sydney                                     300

4              SV           Des Ellis                                                215

5              SV           Sean O’Flynn-Madden                   200

6              SV           Dean Henning                                   120

7              SV           Hennie Blignaut                               100

8              SV           Francois Swanepoel                        90

James Morland

Veteran Men Group

1              VM         James Morland                                 550

2              VM         Norman Hatherly                             350

3              VM         Neil Evans                                           220

4              VM         Lawrence Henning                          150

5              VM         Desmond Purchase                         120

6              VM         Michael Bradley                               100

With renewed commitment from the CyclingSA MTB Commision, a long awaited return to the legend of the cable car uplift and some of our top riders focusing on world cup pursuits, 2012 promises to be another spectacular year for DH in South Africa.

The 2012 DH calendars will be updated during the course of this week.

Today its Hayden on his ‘Goose hitting up some dirt jumps…