Events: Sauser And Stander Team For Cape

The fifth-annual Absa Cape Epic takes place from March 28 to April 5, 2008 starting in the beautiful Garden Route town of Knysna and finishes 600 miles (966km) and nine days later at Lourensford Wine Estate. It will lead participants from around the world up approximately 60,790 feet (18,529m) of climbing, including some of the most magnificent passes in South Africa.

Christoph Sauser, the reigning World and European Mountain Bike Marathon Champion, has announced his participation in this year’s event. Sauser will team up with Burry Stander, one of South Africa’s most talented young mountain bikers, to ride the prologue and eight stages of the South African mountain bike race.

Sauser, who has been racing professionally since 1993, won the 2006 Absa Cape Epic with fellow Swiss rider Silvio Bundi. It will be Stander’s first Absa Cape Epic and also the first time that these two race together as a team to raise funds for the Songo.info charity. Together with the JAG Foundation, the Songo.info project aims to raise funds for a BMX track for local youth.

“I felt that I wanted to give something back to South Africa. My winter training base is the beautiful Boland town of Stellenbosch and the beneficiary of my participation will be the community of Kayamandi,” says Sauser.

Twenty year-old Stander, who lives in Port Shepstone, Kwazulu-Natal, is the current African and South African cross-country mountain biking champion. He also finished sixth in the Under 23 World Championship and fifth in the Sea Otter cross-country last year. He took first place in round one of the SA Marathon series in Barberton this year.

Sauser approached him in January to be his partner in the Absa Cape Epic. Says Stander: “I felt it was an awesome opportunity to ride with Christoph and at the same time raise funds for the Songo.info charity.”

“The collaboration between Sauser and Stander should make for a very exciting and fast Absa Cape Epic. ," says Kevin Vermaak, founder and director of the Absa Cape Epic.

For those not participating in the full race, there is a call for entries into the one day mountain bike race, the Cape Times Vigne à Vigne. Interested riders can register online at www.vigne-a-vigne.com.

Follow the action along the route and encourage your favourite team. Visit www.cape-epic.com for more details and to see where the riders are online.

For more info on Christoph Sauser, please visit his website at www.sauserwind.com.