Overall Absa Cape Epic #ConquerAsOne Winning Moment

The last day of this year’s Absa Cape Epic was filled with joy, relief, accomplishment and pride. After the 691km of the 2017 race had been conquered by the riders, we decided that the winners of our Stage 3 #ConquerAsOne moment, are the ultimate example of what Conquer as One means.

29-year-old Bruce Campbell did not only defy everything that medical doctors and textbooks say about the human body, but his story touched everyone around him – including us. Pompe disease is a neuromuscular disease that causes extreme muscle weakness and pain, because of a buildup of a complex sugar called glycogen in the body’s cells. This impairs organs from functioning normally, and ultimately means that the body burns its own fat when exercising or during any other strenuous activity. Despite this Bruce has overcome this condition to complete his first Absa Cape Epic, with his partner, Anthony Daniels.

“Nothing in life should hold you back from chasing your dreams,” an emotional Bruce said after crossing the finish line.

Bruce’s determination and contribution to raising awareness to this rare disease inspires us – that’s why his performance at this year’s Absa Cape Epic has won our #ConquerAsOne moment for the 2017 event.

On another note, there are also wedding bells in the air. Absa Pride’s very own, Nico Kotze and Yolandi Steyn entered the Absa Cape Epic together in 2015, they decided that if they managed to finish the race, they would move in together. They crossed the line 47th in the mixed teams category, so as promised, they took their relationship to the next level. This year they took part once again, but Nico wanted to make 2017 even more memorable than it was in 2015. The only way he saw fit, was to propose to Yolandi just as they crossed the finish line – and she said yes. We’re wishing them all the best and we hope to see them again next year.

Throughout the 2017 race, Absa celebrated the spirit of teamwork and perseverance with the #ConquerAsOne campaign. On each day of the race, one team embodying human spirit in overcoming the challenges posed to them were recognised and rewarded. An Absa appointed judging panel selected a daily #ConquerAsOne moment with the winners receiving a #ConquerAsOne race jersey to wear proudly during the next day’s stage.

Daily #ConquerAsOne Winners:

Prologue – Freddy Meyer and Neil Fourie

What started off as a smooth ride through the 26km of the Absa Cape Epic Prologue, soon took a turn for the worse when Absa Pride riders, Freddy Meyer and Neil Fourie started to experience technical difficulties during the Hoogekraal climb. “Neil’s freehub broke, so we had to take turns to push and run up the mountain. We did that for quite some time, until we got about 6km from the finish,” Freddy explained.To make matters worse, Neil is taller than Freddy, so each time they swapped bikes in order to let the person who was running, ride again, the seat had to be adjusted. “We were very worried that we were going to miss the cut-off time, but after a while, we eventually found out that cut-off time is 3 hours, which is a bit longer than we initially thought. We could finally relax and complete the last few kilometers with less stress.

Stage 1 – Sabine Spitz and Robyn de Groot

With temperatures of higher than 35 degrees pushing the riders to their limits and a total climb of 2300 metres – almost twice the height of Table Mountain – it was a tough day at the office for most of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic riders in The 101 km long Stage 1 of the 2017 race.It was literally blood, sweat and tears in the battle for the Hansgrohe Women’s category on Monday. The Ascendis Health duo, Sabine Spitz and her riding partner, Robyn de Groot who started the stage with a 39-second lead after winning the Prologue on Sunday, had a tough day with a mechanical giving their rivals an early advantage, and then just as they started clawing their way back, Spitz fell down a crevice and cut her head badly. The German former Olympic gold medallist arrived at the finish with blood on her face and went off to the medics for potential stitches to close the wound. The duo still managed to finish the stage in just over 5 hours and 19 minutes – claiming the second place in their category.

Stage 2 – Absa Cape Epic Team

The stage 2 #ConquerAsOne moment went to the Absa Cape Epic! The Stage 2 of the 2017 Absa Cape Epic was originally planned to take the riders from Hermanus to Greyton. After a tough first stage, and another day of temperatures in excess of 40 degrees expected, a difficult decision had to be made with the riders’ safety in mind. After much deliberation and consideration, the route was shortened from 102km to 62km, to limit the pressure on the riders’ already stressed bodies. This resulted in the race now ending at the last water point just outside of Caledon, creating a logistical challenge, such as transport of riders and bikes to the race village, event infrastructure and technical set-up within only a few hours. An enormous amount of teamwork between the event organisers, sponsors, volunteers, riders and supporters was required to pull this off – and they did. At the end of the day, despite many obstacles, the Absa Cape Epic was the winner.

Stage 3/Overall #ConquerAsOne – Bruce Campbell and Anthony Daniels.

Putting your body through days of physical and mental endurance is tough enough as it is – now imagine attempting this with a neuromuscular disease that results in muscle weakness and extreme pain. It may seem like a near-impossible feat, but for 29-year-old Bruce Campbell, Pompe disease is his reality, and he isn’t letting that stop him from achieving the things that he’s always dreamt of. Not only is he defying everything that medical experts told him by taking part in this year’s Absa Cape Epic, but he is still going strong with his partner, Anthony Daniels. “I had to train for about a year and a half just to slowly build my intensity so that I’m able to go faster for longer while burning my fat, instead of glucose. I also get infusions every two weeks, and that’s helping to put the enzymes back into my body. I have to pace my race very carefully, but it’s such a privilege to be here,” he explained.

Bruce’s determination and contribution to raising awareness to this rare disease, inspires those riders around him and that’s why his performance at this year’s Absa Cape Epic has won our #ConquerAsOne moment of the day for stage 3 as well as the overall #ConquerAsOne moment.

Stage 4 – Dudley Turner and Till Streichert

Dudley Turner completed Stage 4 – the longest of this year’s Absa Cape Epic – having dislocating his ankle 5 kilometres from the finish line. Things were going well for him and his German riding partner, Till Streichert, when Dudley’s unfortunate accident occurred. Having dislocated his ankle, Dudley managed to click it back in and continue riding. It wasn’t long before he slipped again and found himself in the position where he couldn’t put any pressure on his injured foot. Determined to finish the stage, Till pushed Dudley up the last steep hill of the stage, and then ran down to get his own bike while Dudley waited for him at the top.Once the hill was conquered they were able to roll to the finish where they somehow managed to complete the stage with smiles on their faces, despite the evident pain over each bump.

Stage 5 – Matt Cook and Sefiso Mkhabela

One of the more colourful and energetic riding pairs, known by the rest of the field for their constant fun-loving behaviour on the race, Matt Cook and Sefiso Mkhabela are our #ConquerAsOne moment of the day. Not only did they finish Stage 5, that started and ended at Oak Valley in Elgin, but they did so after Matt crashed and broke his ankle with 15km of the 84km to go. Sefiso commented;” We definitely have the Friday curse, in 2016 everything went wrong for us and today it went wrong again from the first pedal. My axel broke really early in the day and Matt managed to McGyver it so that I could continue, then I had a hard fall, and finally 15kms out Matt crashed going through a berm and his handle bars locked. Despite the severe pain he was in he pushed through to the end. All Matt could say was, ‘I am going to finish this race no matter what, and I am going to be doing Iron Man next week’.”

Stage 6 – Andrew Hirsch and Colin Spencer

Four weeks ago, Andrew Hirsch broke his wrist in a mountain biking accident, but none the less he made the decision with his partner, Colin Spencer, to still take part in the race. “We already had the entry, so we were going to ride anyway,” Andrew laughed. Their Absa Cape Epic journey had been going well, until bad luck struck team Blood, Sweat and Beers during the Queen Stage – Stage 6 – when Andrew’s deraileur broke. They had 20km left before they crossed the finish line. “It wasn’t the most comfortable situation. I was riding the bike at single speed, so I had to pedal really hard to make it through and luckily Colin was there to push me in the parts where I really needed help.” The two riders agree that even through the tough luck, they’re still happy to be part of the race. “It’s been an awesome week. Teamwork is everything and without it, we wouldn’t have made it through the day.”

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