Hilma Nalupe
The 21st edition of the Nedbank Desert Dash kicked off smoothly with soft showers on Friday in Windhoek and concluded in Swakopmund.
The event attracted over 1000 participants from Namibia and other parts of the world to tackle the gruelling 401 km race, filled with steep inclines, rocky terrain and beautiful scenery of the Namibian mountains and dunes.The five-stage race, consisting of the solo, two-person teams, four-person teams and half dashers categories, was filled with both repeat and first-time participants.
16-year-old Shawn Morkel took part in his first ever desert dash with a four-man team, because he wanted to experience the desert and see for himself how it feels like to go through it. 67-year-old Andreas Pruckner has partaken in over 10 desert dashes throughout the years and this year, he returned to the track to do his first ever half dash.
Namibian elite cyclist, Drikus Coetzee, claimed victory in the Men’s Solo category, with a time of 14:13:32, marking his second ever desert dash win, after his first in 2022. Coetzee was in the lead from the beginning until the 240km mark, where German cyclist Andreas Seewalt took the lead from him. However, 80 km before the finish line, Seewalt bumped into a minor accident on the track and had to retire from the race, putting Coetzee back in the lead.
Speaking after arriving at the finish line, Coetzee described the dash as good and well organised and further sent out a heartfelt message to Seewalt.
“I’m proud of my ride and of what I did today. But it’s definitely not the way a sportsman would like to win, but once again, that’s sport and that’s what happens sometimes,” Coetzee said. Women’s Solo winner, Nina Holtrup, won the category for the first time with a time of 17:00:04 and described it as tough.
“I struggled in stage one and lost a lot of time, especially at Kupferberg, but I eventually caught up to the ladies one by one.”
Speaking after the closing ceremony, Nedbank Namibia Chief Operating Officer Victor Ashikoto, described this year’s edition as possibly the best one yet and a resounding success. “Every single year we learn from the previous dash and the aim is always to improve from the last. This year’s dash was incredible, we had international participants as per usual, but luckily, the solo events were on by our own, which is a great thing for Namibia,” Ashikoto said.