23 May 2007 - updated
Perfect weather for Mountain Mania 2007

The forecasted mother storms and torrential rains for last weekend meant most of the Cape Town climbers chose to hang out in a flooding city rather than head to through to Montagu, where against all odds a long and beautiful day of climbing was to be had. It is true that the heavens opened on Sunday morning, but by then the weather (as oppose to achy forearms) was merely an additional (and handy) excuse to curl up in front of a cosy fireplace and rest our weary bodies.

Full report below...

Arjan and Ben very thoroughly inspecting their hard earned winnings .

The FULL REPORT from DeBos owner and the Van Loveren Cogmans Rock Rally organiser Stuart Brown:

A very big thank you to those of you who made the effort to come out and have a great day and who make my efforts worth while, THANK YOU. May the sun always shine on you.

Stuart Brown

Montagu Mountain Mania 2007
Van Loveren
Cogmans Rock Rally

The weather predictions were of arctic proportion, but the mountains stood up to the onslaught long enough for us to host yet another very successful Montagu Mountain Mania. Many people chose not to come out, due to the media hype of bad weather on Thursday and Friday, so the number of participants was very low this year. The few "hard core loyals" were rewarded with sunshine and a well organized event and could enjoy a full day of climbing. Most climbers being very chuffed at climbing so many routes in one day, this is very often the beauty of the Rock Rally, you challenge yourself. The other events went off well with the weather playing along with a cool breeze and sunshine. The Petzl Adventure Nights was well attended and head torches could be seen roaming through the vineyards and streets of Montagu under a starry sky, with a big bon fire welcoming the adventurers back to the race village. This years Rock Rally will be aired on Super Sport and Craig Brutton and his crew were out doing their thing to make sure some good shots were taken. Richard Knipe, a local farmer, kindly took Craig for a spin in his plane to get some aerial shots of the event and the wineries.

The race village looked very professional this year, with the sponsors doing loads of branding and giving away plenty of prizes. A very big thank you to our main sponsor this year, Van Loveren wine estate in the Breede River Valley. It was great to have Van Loveren on board and we look forward to working together in the future. The Magnetic South set up was very flashy and the Avalon Springs is arguably the best event venue around. Well done to the Kings Christian School for the coffee, pan cakes and hamburgers. The Springs also put on an awesome buffet on the Friday and Saturday, which went on until midnight, and the Spit Braai was very good. The wine tasting offered by Van Loveren through the day and the Rugby which was screened on big screens all over the place wrapped up a great Montagu Mountain Mania. Thank you to Cheryl and Dave from Cheritop, Owen from OMI photography, Craig Brutton from Refresh, Andre and Dieter from Avalon Springs, Ilse for the run, Justin and Riki from climbZA and Regula from De Bos for giving me time off to put this together and for putting up with my tantrums.

Here is some statistical information on the Rally. 19 teams entered and 17 handed in score cards, where the other two teams went to no one knows, maybe the same place odd socks go to? 221 pitches were climbed giving 6.5 routes per climber for the day. Ben and Arian both climbed Strange Days grade 31 and Clinton climbed Switchbitch also 31, well done guys. Ben and Arian scored the most points 10 565 and Ben scored the most individual points 7440. Ben climbed 27, 26, 26, 28 to warm up, then went on to crank, 31, 29, 26, 28, 27, 29. Clinton was close on his heels with 6320 points and climbed, 22, 23, 30, 29, 26, 18, 28, 29, 31, 24. All this in one day, anyone going to challenge this for next year. The two veterans Charles Edelstien and Ed February put up a great show and climbed 16 routes to score 3160 points and third overall. The ladies was won by Julia Wakeling, who scored all her teams points of 1240 on 13 routes. Then the two junior mixed climbers Reni le Roux and Nico Basson climbed 25 routes to score 1614 points. Alex Eppel and Kirsti Meyer were close on their heels with 24 routes. Legoland saw the greatest activity with 115 routes being climbed. Chocolate Speed Way was the most popular route with 14 ascents.

Once again everyone had a big jawl and went home looking forward to their next trip out to Montagu.

Next year will be the 7th Rock Rally, I believe it will be a big one, mark the first weekend in May 2008 down if you do not want to miss out, see you there!

Tireless organiser Stuart Brown dishing out the plentiful prizes at the end of a great day of play.

Results of the Van Loveren Cogmans Rock Rally 2007

Senior men:
1. Ben Harper and Arjan de Kock 10565
2. Ross McBride and Clinton Martinemgo 8330
3. Leon du Toit and Michael Baleta 1495
4. Lourens van der WesthuizenAnd Graham Pickavance 1380
5. Luke Gregor and Greg Bouden 1350
6. Andrew Wood and Johan Louw 1215
7. Marc and Michael Balera 1040
8. Mark Linley and Garvin Jacobs 925
9. Florian Nagel and P-J Carstens 900
10. Haegyn Roux and Nico Alberts 295
11. Cobus van Dyk and Jurie Joubert 130

Senior ladies:
Julia Wakeling and Carla Staver 1240

Senior mixed:
1. Alex Eppel and Kirsti Meyer 2075
2. Paul Sheer and Louise Smith 345

Veteran men:
Ed February and Charles Edelstien 3160

Junior boys:
Deon Knipe and Len Knipe 1800

Junior mixed:
Reni le Roux and Nico Basson 1614

Well done to all of you.

Stuart and Regula Brown
De Bos Guest Farm
www.debos.co.za