Freyer wins the ‘Big Munga’

MARTIN Freyer conquered the toughest race on earth when he won the Munga MTB Race over 1 127km on Friday.

Freyer completed the ultra marathon in a time of 56 hours 36 minutes, after starting in Bloemfontein on Wednesday and traversing through the Great Karoo before finishing in Wellington in the Cape more than two days later.

South Africa’s Fransi Steyn came second, about ten seconds behind Freyer, while another South African, Hansi Joubert came third, nearly 10 hours behind.

Described on its website as the ‘toughest race in the world,’ it forms part of the Munga ultra-marathon series in which another Namibian, Drikus Coetzee had already won two events earlier this year.

In April he won the 500km Munga Grit Tankwa over the Tankwa Karoo, and in October won the Munga Grit Cradle in the Magaliesberg.

Freyer, however, has now added the ‘Big Munga’ to the list of Namibian successes, after an extraordinary ride through extreme weather conditions, ranging from 45 degrees and howling winds in the midday sun to chilly nights in the Tankwa Karoo.

Freyer and Steyn soon broke away from the pack and were level for most of the race, with the lead changing a few times. At Sutherland, about 250km from the finish, Freyer slept for the first time, but only for one and a half hours, where Steyn caught up with him.

The two riders got to know each other and with a bond of mutual trust and respect soon developing they decided to ride together till the end.

Freyer could not be contacted, but his mother, Vera, said it was a remarkable journey.

“It was much more than just a race victory, it was an amazing tale of a budding friendship in extreme weather conditions. If they didn’t stick together it would have been very difficult to make it on their own,” she said.

“They had planned to cross the line together, but the organisers told them they were not allowed to do that and they must decide who will cross the line first. Martin was finishing stronger so they decided that he should cross the line first,” she added.

The two riders rode together till the end, reaching Wellington in darkness on Friday night, with videos of their finish and champagne corks popping, soon circulating on social media.

It was a great achievement against extreme odds, but according to Vera, Martin is not resting on his laurels yet.

“Martin flies back on Sunday, but next Friday he will be back racing when he does the Desert Dash,” she said.

The Nedbank Desert Dash from Windhoek to Swakopmund is over a much ‘shorter’ distance of about 380km, where Freyer will come up against a strong field of Namibian and foreign riders, while Coetzee should also be among the favourites for the solo title.