Blog#10 – Oh, the people you meet!
Over the course of 23 years, covering 3 decades, since I first conceived the idea in 2002 for the Cape Epic, I’ve met so many wonderful people associated with the bike and sport event industry. (Coincidentally, I was reminded of this when reading “The Wubbulous World of Dr Seuss” with my children – one of the chapters is called “Oh, the people you’ll meet”.)
Blog#9 – Solo racing
In March, we witnessed another stellar edition of the Absa Cape Epic here in the Western Cape. Congratulations to Nino and Filippo and Annika and Sofia on their historic victories and to all the finishers for powering through some extreme weather conditions to claim well-earned finisher medals in what was undoubtedly a tough race.
Blog#8 – The Kindling
Last month, 75 of us headed deep into the Great Karoo to ride The Kindling – a two-and-a-half stage preview of the Nedbank Gravel Burn designed to test everything from rider experience to event logistics. It was a huge success – so much so that we’ve decided to launch an additional annual event over three days for April next year, starting and finishing in Graaff Reinet. More on that soon.
Blog#7 – Sold out!
Another exciting milestone has just passed for us at Nedbank Gravel Burn – entries for the inaugural event have officially sold out! We had set a target of 500 participants at the 2025 event, and we’ve not only reached it – we’ve exceeded it.
Blog#6 – Breaking ground
I set out to make the Nedbank Gravel Burn quite different from any other stage race and to do this with the ‘spirit of gravel’ in mind. To me, that means including a unique element – an African adventure in remote and unspoilt areas. Bringing this to life in untouched parts of our country requires real commitment – both in energy and capital. We’ve embraced that, eyes wide open.
Blog#5 – Ignition point
As you may have read, we managed to secure an absolutely brilliant title sponsorship from Nedbank for Gravel Burn. I am very grateful to Nedbank for sharing our vision which, in turn, allows me and my colleagues to travel this journey doing something that we love. I can’t emphasise enough how this partnership affects our daily approach to our work to build the Gravel Burn – which is now officially the Nedbank Gravel Burn.
Blog#4 – Raising the heat
Gravel Burn received the perfect Christmas present near the end of December… a title sponsor! The name is still under wraps but what you might have seen is one immediate consequence of this: we announced a $150,000 prize purse for the event, making it the largest single-race prize in the history of gravel bike racing…
Blog#3 – Forging ahead
It’s been a while since my last blog. My excuse is that I’ve been wholly consumed by the act of organising the race which has left me no time to also write about the organising! To be honest, it all feels a bit like 2004 again and those wild times before we staged our first Cape Epic.
Blog#2 – The stoke
Well, it’s been a busy time since my last blog. Among the many developments two things stand out: Trial Burn and our first formal presentation of Gravel Burn to the media. Both mark significant milestones in our new event’s young history, and the Gravel Burn team and I believe that they’ve set the bar for things to come…
Blog#1 – Hello World
Some of you will know me as the founder of the Cape Epic (I started work on that a full 20 years ago now!). Well, I’m now planning something in a different – but also familiar – space.
After selling the Cape Epic to The Ironman Group in 2017 – but staying on in a consulting capacity – I finally said goodbye to the event at the end of 2022…