Boyes and Tunstead win BUCO Karoo to Coast

GEORGE NEWS - The 2018 BUCO Karoo to Coast was won by Craig Boyes and Pauline Tunstead in remarkably different fashions last Sunday.

Boyes held off his breakaway companions in a sprint for the line, while Tunstead slowly ground down the women's field on the route's long climbs of the Prince Alfred's Pass between Uniondale and Knysna.

Held in near-perfect conditions which saw the first section of gravel road, known as the "Ou Wapad," smoother than it has been for years and in pleasantly mild temperatures the 2018 BUCO Karoo to Coast was one for the history books.

4 600 riders made the twentieth edition the largest ever field and only a light head wind provided a hint of natural difficulty. It was anything but an easy day on the bike however, as the accumulation of meters of elevation gained stacked up and the constant vibrations of racing across gravel roads at high speeds increased the rate at which fatigue set in.

Francois Louw (left) and Wian Nieuwoudt, tired but happy at the finish.