It was for the second time in March 2012 that two athletes of Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team raced the challenging Cape Epic mountain bike stage race in South Africa. Despite their fitness the team had to overcome obstacles they had never experienced in a triathlon race. But they finished and are now looking for more.
Cape Epic is an 8-day race around Cape Town held in March. Teams of 2 riders have to ride and finish together otherwise they will not find their names in the official results. All started in 2004 when the idea was brought to the Western Cape from the Ruta del Conquistadores, which takes place in Costa Rica. Today Cape Epic has reached its logistical limits with 600 racing teams who do on average 800km mainly off-road with 16,000m of climbing. In spite of the fairly high entry fee of approximately 4,000 Euro (18.000 AED) there are many more potential riders who would like to participate than there are entry slots. The registration is done through a raffle where every interested athlete applies up until May. In June the organizers officially announce the lucky ones who are allowed to struggle in the South African bush the following year. Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team was founded in 2009 by Faris Al-Sultan, Swen Sundberg and Werner Leitner. All three of them have been among the “lucky” Cape Epic competitors.
Faris Al-Sultan, former Ironman world champion and team captain, took the first steps to make this challenge come true. He had the chance to participate in the Epic MTB challenge and thus take his team into the first season as Abu Dhabi Team in June 2009. He took his mountain bike to Abu Dhabi and improved his off-road abilities which were in need of being brushed up. After having “collected” a few kilometres on the MTB in the desert he travelled to Cape Town with former pro triathlete Werner Leitner who started to manage the team at that time. Faris was surprised about the very technical courses in South Africa and had a tough time. He was happy to see the finish line in Lourensford Wine Estate with just minor injuries e.g. some stitches in his arm. During the Epic there were times when he was really afraid to endanger his main job as a professional triathlete. Nevertheless, the team Al-Sultan/Leitner reached the 34th place in the end. Three years later, in 2012, a more experienced team was sent to South Africa again: this time it was Swen Sundberg and Leitner who wanted to do it better. But the conditions were different. Overall, the tour was more difficult, the stages tougher, the weather less stable, and they rode faster, which meant in the end they had to deal with a lot of technical problems.
The 2012 Cape Epic started with a team trial prologue in Durbanville, a suburb of Cape Town. All teams were sent on a 27km hilly course. The main reason for that was to determine the order of the start blocks for the first stage on the following day. Swen and Werner placed under the best 50 teams and were therefore allowed to start the first 115km stage with the leaders. Sounds good? Yes, but that was about the only good thing of stage one. Just after 20 km the struggle started. A broken rear derailleur stopped them and one hour passed until a new part could be organized. The next 4 days worked pretty well although they had to cope with some flat tires and weather changes ranging from 35 degrees Celsius with sunshine to 15 degrees with rain. Especially the nights in the race camp turned out to be pretty cold in the tents. Before the last two stages Werner thought that everything was done and a place among the best 30 would be possible – only to learn that a stage race is only over after crossing the
finish-line of the very last stage. With a torn chain and a broken back wheel the finish was suddenly in the far distance again. In the end, however, Swen and Werner bravely finished with a 70th place overall. They promised to be again at the starting line in 2013. Hopefully they have learned from their experiences and things will go without a hitch this year. It is not enough to face a challenge like the Cape Epic with a fit triathlon body. Mountain biking in stages with more than 100km off-road in each stage does not only require riding abilities. It also requires the knowledge of how to handle unexpected problems efficiently and quickly. And they will occur, trust me! And, what’s more, teamwork has to be effective and the team members have to have each other’s back at all times otherwise they won’t see the finish line.
More information about the Cape Epic and how to order OEM mini bike parts online:
www.cape-epic.com
Published in September 2012
