Grahamstown mountain bike enthusiast Jason Meaton was recently selected for the Eastern Province team to take part in the Mountain Biking Cross Country Nationals.
Grahamstown mountain bike enthusiast Jason Meaton was recently selected for the Eastern Province team to take part in the Mountain Biking Cross Country Nationals.
Meaton, a Grade 10 pupil at Graeme College, was selected for the EP A junior team after taking part in the recent EP qualifying lap race, where he finished second.
The MTB Cross Country Nationals takes place in Johannesburg on 6 February. The junior team is made up of cyclists between the ages of 17 and 18.
A week after hearing the news that he had been selected for the EP team, Meaton went on to win the 25km mountain bike race at the Bruintjieshoogte Cycle Fest in a superb time of 54 minutes 45 seconds.
Meaton comes from a motor bike endurance background, where he raced his quad bike in Pretoria and the surrounding areas while growing up.
His family moved to Grahamstown in 2006 and while there was not much motor biking available in Grahamstown, he started cycling in 2008 with a friend. In his first mountain bike race, he finished 5th overall which signified the start of his cycling career.
Meaton has finished first overall in two mountain bike events, and has won his age category at no less than 12 races, including the Baviaans 40km, the Ridge Mania 30km, and the Longmore 60km.
Meaton took part in a training event organised for the EP team members, at Woodridge this past weekend. This gave him a chance to set his bike, as the nationals is held on a similar course.
While Meaton took part in mainly marathon events made up of mainly gravel roads, he prefers the more technical, single track races.
The EP cycling calender is made up of three EP qualifying events, for three separate national races. If Meaton makes the EP team for all three nationals, he will then be awarded his EP colours.
Training up to four times a week, including a long weekend cycle of about 60km, brings the total up to 100km of mountain biking a week.
While EP Mountain Biking will not be assisting members of the EP team financially, Meaton will still be taking part in this weekend’s nationals.
