The big names on everyone’s lips were defending champion Candice Lill (Seattle Coffee Co. / E-Fort / Sabi Sabi), Hayley Preen (Honeycomb 226ers), Greta Seiwald (Decathlon Ford), Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti), Bianca Haw, and Sarah Maré. Alan Hatherly (Giant Factory Off-Road) was coming back for more after his debut in 2025, Scott-SRAM’s Andri Frischknecht was a previous winner looking for his seconnd title, and the Toyota Specialized Imbuko squad of Marco Joubert, Tristan Nortje, Lood Goosen, Inus du Preez and Jaedon Terlouw had skin in the game with it being their home race. Felix Stehli (Honeycomb 226ers), as well as Wessel Botha and Arno du Toit (Insect Science MTB), were also favourites for a big ride.
Five kilometres in, riders hit the first climb, known as Hawequa. It takes in 750m of elevation gain and is a monster. If it weren’t for the Cliffhanger this would be the biggest feature of the day, and straight out the gates, there was an intensity in the lead bunch that surpassed any previous year’s racing.
In the men’s group, Cronje Beukes had snuck off the front of the group as they moved towards the steeper slopes, but he wasn’t getting much attention until Alan Hatherly used the momentum off of a small descent to fly off the front of the group and really get the party started, at just 7 kilometres into the race! It was fireworks from then on. As the gradients escalated, chunks of the bunch broke off until it was just Nortje, Botha and Hatherly remaining out in front with Stedman, Frischknecht and Goosen in chase. Botha would slip off before the top of the Hawequa, and each rider began to settle into whatever rhythm they could find on the unforgiving terrain.
It was a group of Lill, Preen, Seiwald, Haw, and Looser that led the women’s field up the lower slopes of Hawequa. Lill was, of course, the conductor setting the pace, but the rest of her entourage were locking into the hurt box and holding the wheel as long as they could. Greta Seiwald was the most resilient in the fight up to the first summit of the day, dropping into the exquisite Hawequa trail descent 40 seconds back from Lill. Preen was next to begin the descent, followed by Haw and then Looser, with about a minute separating each rider at the 16km mark.
Hitting the singletrack ascent up Seven Peaks, Nortje led Hatherly, setting a strong pace to fend off the chasers. The two were inseparable down the high-speed Cool Runnings trail and through the second water point at Canetsfontein until Hatherly suffered an untimely puncture hitting the third climb of the day. Nortje kept the throttle open and got himself 30 seconds clear of the XCO World Champion. The race was now on.
Nortje exited the classic Aap d’huez trail with a strong advantage, but Hatherly was on the hunt. A couple of kilometres deeper into the climb taking them up to the Cliffhanger, Hatherly surged past Nortje and rode a pace that the Wellington local said he “just couldn’t hold” to crest the Cliffhanger first and bank the R20 000 KOM prize.
Meanwhile, Lill kept the lead women chasing hard through Seven Peaks and up and over the Cliffhanger (claiming her R20 000 QOM prize). Greta Seiwald was hot on her heels, doing the best of any competitor in recent years to keep the Queen of The Big 5 in check. Looser had moved into 4th position, passing Bianca Haw as she was picking herself up from her third crash of the day (and all this before the first water point). It was not a great start from Underberg’s finest, but they breed them tough in KZN, and she dusted herself off from “the biggest crash of her life” and got back in the fight!
Preen was doing her best to hold Looser off as they wound their way up to the summit of the route, with plenty of fatigue in the legs after several weeks of big races back-to-back. Looser said that she knew she needed to get past Preen before the top of the cliffhanger to secure her shot at a podium finish, and she made it happen, putting just 30 seconds into the gravel expert by the summit and looking strong in third.
Both Nortje and Seiwald closed down the gaps to their respective race leaders as they plummeted down the 850m vertical drop back to the Canetsfontein water point, though it wouldn’t last long as Hatherly and Lill were more than prepared to step on the gas again and widen the margin and get some breathing room back.
Frischknecht was the next best man, though Botha and Stedman were close on his heels down the Cliffhanger, Full Monty, and Route 66 descents. Looser had Seiwald within sight at several points in the closing kilometres but didn’t quite have the power to close down the gap, despite the Italian rider wavering a bit on the often-underestimated Pataskloof climb, worried that she may have emptied the tank too soon. Their pursuit of the leaders was valiant but not enough to change the battle for the top two steps of each podium, Hatherly and Lill claimed their respective category titles with Nortje and Seiwald runners up.
Frischknecht seemed to have third place all but secured, surviving the sun-baked slopes of Patatskloof where many a podium favourite has overcooked their goose, but it was not to be. The XCO star’s rear tyre would succumb to one of the rocks that took Matt Beers out of the race with a broken wheel in 2025. Frischknecht’s race was over, and it was Botha who was poised to jump on the third podium step, and he did precisely that. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Stedman coming through behind him. His teammate Jaedon Terlouw, had managed his pacing exquisitely and came through out of the blue to grab 4th ahead of Stedman.
Following Lill and Seiwald across the line was Looser in third, Preen in fourth, and Haw rounding out the top five. Lill defended her title at the 2026 Big 5 with the kind of authority we’ve come to expect. Measured, controlled, and relentlessly strong. She crossed the line in an astonishing new course-record time of 4h25m54s. Adding yet another first-place finish to her decorated run at this event, and once again proving that when it comes to the Big 5, she knows exactly how to win it.
“I think today is quite a unique race because in some other races there’s more tactics,” says Lill of The Big 5, “because it’s a hill and then a downhill and a lot mixed up. Whereas in this, the more you can just keep your own pace, the faster you’re going to be over the whole course. That being said, it is kind of my MO to just attack from the start. I think it makes others feel like you’re kind of on the back foot. So I do go a little bit hard on the first climb and then sort of settle into a good pace. Today I managed to fuel really well and manage my effort well. I finished stronger than in other years, which is awesome”
Both Hatherly and Nortje went under record time, the race winner by a whole four minutes, and the runner-up by two. It was arguably the most dominant ride we have seen in the men’s race in the history of the event. Even through his mechanical setback, Hatherly seemed to have everything under control and always had the reserves to dig a little deeper when needed.
“I guess I kind of caught the guys a bit off guard,” Alan Hatherly recounts the racing, “Somebody sent a flyer early on, and I sent it down the side to bridge across, and I think caught a few people out. They had to work pretty hard to catch me in the beginning. I think that kind of hurt the guys and split the race to bits back there.
“I guess Tristan was super strong, and I think local knowledge really helped him a lot today. He was flying on the downhills and really put me under pressure. I had a small mechanical, a flat tyre, it was super strange, but a quick plug-and-go and I managed to get back to Tristan and get past him to take the KOM. He nearly caught me on the descent, like I said – local knowledge – and I guess in the last 20km or so, I just motored and time trialled my way home and sealed the deal. A bit of a suffer-fest! There’s no easy way to get around in Imbuko Big 5, but I enjoyed it. My form is good, so I’m happy.”
The racing at The Big 5 has become better and better every year. The event has solidified itself as a staple on the calendar of SA’s best marathon riders and World Cup XCO racers alike. The pure test of endurance and bike handling has drawn riders from far and wide, and is set to keep its trajectory through 2027 and beyond!
Top 10 Women:
1 – Candice Lill – 04:25:54
2 – Greta Seiwald – 04:30:59
3 – Vera Looser – 04:33:48
4 – Hayley Preen – 04:38:40
5 – Bianca Haw – 04:46:44
6 – Felicitas Geiger – 04:52:33
7 – Ila Stow – 05:00:09
8 – Chloe Bishop – 05:04:03
9 – Cherise Willeit – 05:05:18
10 – Anri Greeff – 05:05:48
Top 10 Men:
1 – Alan Hatherly – 03:37:49
2 – Tristan Nortje – 03:39:28
3 – Wessel Botha – 03:42:17
4 – Jaedon Terlouw – 03:48:22
5 – Travis Stedman – 03:48:37
6 – Lood Goosen – 03:50:57
7 – Inus Du Preez – 03:52:51
8 – Tayne Rudling – 03:53:48
9 – Jan Withaar – 03:55:45
10 – Cronje Beaukes – 03:55:46
Source: Big 5 MTB Challenge, presented by Canetsfontein and Imbuko
