Sometimes as riders, we get caught up in our own little bubbles during a race, so we got Gameplan Media’s Nick Tatham to provide a holistic insight into the 2015 BSI Steel dusi2c for you.
With much older, bigger, siblings, in the Old Mutual joBerg2c and the Nedbank sani2c, the little tyke BSI Steel dusi2c is judged by lofty standards. But, once again it punched above its weight in 2015. It was fully subscribed with 300-paired teams taking to the magnificent Valley of a Thousand Hills, riding from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg to Blue Lagoon in Durban.
The racing at the front of the field was ferocious, as it always is, and it was the Team TIB pair of Andrew Hill and Chris Wolhuter who managed to build a lead on stage one and increase it through the second and final stage to claim the overall crown.
A revelation that came out of the 2015 event was the competitiveness of the mixed teams. The battle lines were drawn early, with Bianca Haw and Andrew Houston racing frantically to win the title over the Dusi Duke himself, Martin Dreyer and his wife, Jeannie. The TIB Insurance team of Eugene Botha and Samantha Sanders, meanwhile, took a hard fought third.
2015 was the third edition of the two-day adventure and the race has often been described as ‘pure mountain biking’ with riders having to navigate themselves through the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The race was founded with GPS navigation rather than route markers and it’s a concept that’s proved very successful. Riders are given a GPS file to guide them in their choice of cattle paths as they picked their way through some very rugged terrain.
The race follows the famous Dusi Canoe Marathon route, along the uMsundusi and uMngeni Rivers from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Riders navigate along the riverbanks, over bridges and sometimes even through the rivers to get to their seaside destination.
The race is seen as a popular first stage race, and 2015 saw a number of the riders taking on the shortest of the ‘Farmer’ Glen Haw events. However the dusi2c is not to be underestimates, the spills were spectacular as were the war stories which riders exchanged at the popular Mfula Store overnight stop.
The Mfula Store is one of the most iconic landmarks of the Dusi Canoe Marathon and forms the perfect place for riders to relax and relive their day one experiences, with a quart of beer in hand, sitting on the banks of the uMngeni River watching the sun go down.
The local people play a large part in the race with riders literally riding past people’s front doors but the local people in the valley take to the race and take to their local riders with great voice and support.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the 2015 race was the performances of the RMB Change a Life teams. Mazwi Smimango and Bongumusa Zikhali finished second on the general classification while Sipho Kupiso and Ndumiso Dontso were third overall. The Change a Life guys are locals from the Valley of a Thousand Hills and the support they received from the local communities is evidence of the massive pride their friends and families have in their achievements.
Given the size of the smile on each rider’s face as they crossed the finish line at Blue Lagoon, it’s safe to say that the 2015 BSI Steel dusi2c was enjoyed by all! Farmer Glen provided them with a terrific mountain biking experience and one that will draw most of them back for the 2016 edition of the dusi2c.
Where are we?
The BSI Steel dusi2c follows the route Farmer Glen’s children’s favourite event, the Dusi Canoe Marathon. Starting in Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg and finishing at Blue Lagoon in Durban. To find out more visit www.dusi2c.co.za.
