More than 3600 mountain bikers pitched for the event over five distances – 75km, 60km, 42km, 30km and 15km. Racing conditions were perfect. After the rain of the previous days the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. The routes wasn’t that muddy and riders had a lot of fun.

Buys’ winning time was 3 hours and 21 minutes. He was joined by Kevin Evans (360Life, 3:27) and Renay Groustra (GT Mr Price, 3:27) on the winner’s podium.

It is official Philip Buys (Garmin-adidas) is South Africa’s second best pro-elite cross country rider at the moment.

He proved it over the weekend at the national event which took place at Rietvlei Farm in Alberton when for the umpteenth time this year he was the only rider who was really prepared to take on Burry Stander (Specialized).

At the moment Philip Buys (Garmin-adidas) is without any doubt the second best pro-elite cross-country rider in South Africa. He is second only to Burry Stander.

On Saturday (4 June), during the national cross-country event at the Cascades in Pietermaritzburg, Buys basically demolished his rivals with his aggressive riding. The first-year u.23 rider, James Reid, was the only one who even tried to stay with Buys, but the youngster’s tenacity lasted for one lap only.

This past weekend saw the top riders from around the country make their way to Cascades in Peitermaritzburg for the second time this year.

The decision was taken to use the World Cup venue from earlier this year for a second time to host a national event, after the opening round of the Super Series was washed out by torrential rains. The decision proved good as the weather was stable and conditions were prime for racing.

In all likelihood the National Pro-elite Cross-country race that will take place in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday (4 June) will boil down to one teammate competing for victory against another.

Philip Buys and Marc Bassingthwaighte (from Garmin-adidas) are undoubtedly the two in-form cross-country riders at the moment. This is especially true after they had both competed in the World Cup events in Britain and Germany over the preceding two weekends.

On Sunday, 22 May, Philip Buys (Garmin-adidas) made cycling history in Yorkshire’s Dalby Forest when he raced across the finishing line at the second UCI Cross Country World Cup event.

It was the first time that Buys finished a World Cup race.

“I really enjoyed myself while I was out on the course. It was tough but pleasant. The only bit of bad luck that I experienced during the race was when had to stop to “bomb” my tyre. That was when I realized that it was one thing to race in South Africa and something quite different to race in Europe.

During the past weekend (7-8 May) Philip Buys and Marc Bassingthwaighte (Garmin-adidas) dominated the national cross-country event in Port Elizabeth by finishing first and second respectively.

As was expected, Buys did not waste time before taking control of the pro-elite race. The moment he reached the single-track section, Buys took the lead and rode a near perfect race, increasing his lead with almost every pedal stroke.