The two Umhlanga heroes who excelled in one of the world’s most gruelling cycle races remain modest. If you or I had not only completed the Absa Cape Epic but excelled in it, we might be displaying our plumage a little.
After all, the Absa Cape Epic is an annual, eight-day race that sees both professional and amateur mountain bikers traverse around 800km of the most beautiful parts of the Western Cape. Along the way, the competitors – all riding in two-rider teams – do around 15 000m of climbing up some of the most spectacular passes in the country. It has been described as “the Tour de France” of mountain biking.
Yet Andrew Murray and Wayne Collin couldn’t be more laid-back when I meet them at Andrew’s lovely Mount Edgecombe home. And this despite being placed 10th in the Masters section this year.
Both smile a lot and are just as interested in chatting about life in general as they are about the race. Andrew is a real Durban boy too. “The lifestyle keeps me here, and as I kind of grew up surfing, I’ve always wanted to be by the coast. It’s also the people I’ve met and the contacts I’ve made. I’d never leave Durban.”
Workwise, he’s director of a local outfit called PhotoNote, and for him Wayne was the perfect cycling partner – although the two are clearly good mates, too. Wayne heads a company called Endurance Training Systems (ETS). “Basically I’m a coach specialising in training individuals for endurance events, like the Iron Man, the Comrades and the Cape Epic.
“The Cape Epic was started nine years ago, and over the years has evolved into the biggest mountain bike stage event in the world.
“But whereas in events like the Tour de France you only have pros, in the Cape Epic you can have amateurs and pros competing against each other. It has become the ultimate challenge in any sport. It’s the ultimate in its class,” says Wayne.
And as Andrew says, “For me it was a real privilege to train with Wayne because he is much stronger than me.”
Competing at this stellar level is fairly all-consuming and when I ask Andrew about his other interests, he tells me that “it’s pretty much just cycling at the moment. It’s a sport that takes so much time. So it’s just cycling, and family.” And incidentally, Andrew has a very attractive wife and two clearly happy, small children.
Wayne lives on Mount Edgecombe Estate too, and is married with three kids. And like Andrew, he lists his hobbies as cycling … and red wine.
Both have been cycling for around a decade, and Wayne wins an award for modesty and understatement by describing this year’s race simply as “an epic tale.”
Training alone is gruelling. As Wayne says, “The programme is 16 to 20-weeks long and consists of four stages, and Andrew and I dedicated an average of 20 hours a weekto cycling.” And Andrew chimes in … “The bottom line is we lost a lot of weight!
“Just to enter the event is R40 000 a team. As amateur athletes we were very lucky to get sponsors like PhotoNote, Toshiba, Yvex, Zoo York and Salomon. From that point we were incredibly fortunate,” says Andrew.
“The demand to enter the event is huge,” continues Wayne. “You have to enter a lottery system to enter. In one example 100 entries were sold in 57 seconds by auction! So it’s a real privilege to enter this event!” Andrew, meanwhile, has done four Cape Epics, and Wayne has done seven.
And I think it’s a bit superfluous to add that these highly likeable, engaging, understated athletes are not going to be resting on their laurels…
Story by James Siddall