Geof Blance
After placing fourth in the masters section of the Cape
Epic in South Africa, Alexandra residents Geof Blance and
Malcolm McLeod are looking forward to their next races this
Saturday.
Blance (45) and McLeod (40) completed the annual African Epic
- their first - in 36hr 55min 01sec.
In total, 93 teams (186 riders) completed the masters section
of the 2010 race, for which more than 1200 competitors
registered overall.
Malcolm McLeod
The eight-day, 800km race was held between March 21 and
28 in the Western Cape region, and included about 16km of
mountain climbing.
Blance and McLeod have been home for two weeks, but rest was
not on the agenda.
McLeod will compete in Saturday's Contact Epic Round Lake
Hawea mountain bike race, while on the same day in
Queenstown, Blance will take part in the national
single-speed mountain bike championships.
"We should be as fit now as we've ever been," McLeod said.
Both started competing in cycle races a few years ago, and
before that had been involved in multisport events.
When guaranteed a place in the Cape Epic at the end of last
year's event in March, they geared their training towards the
specialty mountain bike race.
Alexandra provided an ideal training ground for such an
event, with a variety of terrain, Blance said.
With such a full training schedule for the March Epic, Blance
and McLeod pared back their involvement in some of the
smaller local races during summer.
"It would get to the point where we were too tired training
to worry about other races.
"It's a lot to squeeze in with family and work," McLeod said.
They were classed as amateurs, maintaining full-time
employment.
Competing against world professionals in an event that
generated international media coverage was an exciting
experience.
"Every day is like an individual race, and you can't help but
feel a bit of a buzz when there's helicopters flying
overhead," McLeod said.
It was possible they would compete in the South African race
again, Blance said.
"We'll have to see if the organisers let us back in."
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