Ma Feature
Return of the
COLLEGE CHAMP
Now back in SA after four very successful years studying and competing in the USA , Sarah Hill is looking to not only continue her own mountain biking career , but also help more young South African female riders launch theirs as well . – BY KYLE DEELEY
In October last year , after four years of studying in the USA and competing on the collegiate mountain biking circuit for the last time , South Africa ’ s Sarah Hill wrote her name into the history books as she won the gruelling three-day , six-discipline Omnium title at the Division I USA Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in West Virginia . Riding for the Brevhard Tornadoes , her secondplace finishes in the cross country , short track cross country and downhill events helped her dominate the Omnium , which in turn helped her anchor Brevard to its maiden national collegiate championship win , having finished runners-up
in 2015 . “ I was so overwhelmed … What an incredible weekend !” says Sarah , “ Everything just went exactly right and I couldn ’ t think of a better way to end my collegiate career !”
With her studies in sport psychology completed , Sarah is now back in SA and says she is looking to use her racing experience on home soil , and to pass it on to other South African girls , as she believes she now understands so much more about the cycling world and how to succeed in it . “ My confidence has grown exponentially , not only in myself , but also in my training and racing . Through studying the psychology of mountain biking , I think I am now on a whole new level . I am more competitive because I am more patient , and I race with more quality and less ignorance . I am ‘ better ’ in so many ways , and I encourage every high school student to take this opportunity if they are keen ,” explained Sarah .
Her desire to grow the sport amongst the youth in South Africa has seen her team up with Cycling Specific coach , Kyle Wood , and she has been
given the mission to grow the female side of the team . “ Junior athletes remind us how far Kyle and I have come in our cycling careers , and we have so much to share with them ,” says Sarah . She has also been signed up by Giant South Africa to be their LIV Ambassador for Gauteng , so Sarah is now creating more groups for women to ride in . “ I get to encourage more people to get on their bicycles and I am determined to follow in the steps of Lindsey Richter from LIV USA and become the Director of Inspiration for women ’ s mountain biking in South Africa ,” says Sarah .
BITTEN BY THE BUG
Born in East London in 1993 , Sarah moved to Johannesburg at a young age , by which time she had already shown a passion for sport . At St . Stithians Girls College she took part in every form of sport she could : Netball , soccer , tennis , swimming , athletics , softball and rowing . You name it , Sarah did it ! “ In high school I started to find netball and rowing to be my main sports . One would take place in the summer and one in the winter . I enjoyed the team aspect of netball and trying to predict the opposing team ’ s next move . Honestly , I did rowing because it was the hardest sport I had ever tried , and to this day I still think it ’ s the toughest ,” explains Sarah .
Then in her final year of school Sarah was introduced to mountain biking , as a form of cross-training for her rowing , and after lots of thrills and spills , she says the biking bug bit . “ Mountain biking was fun ! I fell … a lot ! But I just kept coming back for more , and it was then
Images : Courtesy Sarah Hill
40 ISSUE 94 MAY 2017 / www . modernathlete . co . za