Friday, 21 January 2011 07:26
The 360Life quest
Two of South Africa’s most talented and successful cyclists, Kevin Evans and David George, have broken with tradition and formed their own two-rider professional team in an effort to win some of the world’s most important mountain bike racing titles.
Team 360Life, recorded its first success on 15 January, when George won the MTN Attakwas 121km Ultra-marathon in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. And while he beat a strong field, which included German stage-racing stars, Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm, it was simply a stepping-stone to his real objectives.
George and Evans have their sights – and hearts – set on becoming the first South African team to win the ABSA Cape Epic, the world’s most prestigious mountain bike stage race, which takes place in the Western Cape from 27 March – 3 April. The race requires competitors to race in teams of two.
The two experienced professionals are brimming with bicycle racing pedigree. George, a former road racer, has two Commonwealth Games medals and is a former U23 World Championship bronze medallist. He is a strong climber and time triallist and a stage-race specialist – he won the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia in 2006 and is four-time winner of the Giro del Capo, South Africa’s premier road stage race for the past decade.
George turned his attention to mountain biking in 2007 and won two stages of the 2008 Cape Epic with Evans when they raced on the same team. They finished third overall that year and returned in 2009 to finish a frustrated fourth.
Evans is a four-time South African marathon champion, and in 2010 won the South African road time trial title. He too is a strong climber and time-triallist, but with a lot more mountain biking experience than George. Evans finished eighth at the 2009 Marathon World Championships and briefly led 2010 Cape Epic for four days, along with his Austrian partner, Alban Lakata.
“We’ve been unable to really focus on winning the races we want to win due to team rosters and accompanying team sponsor expectations in the past. Essentially, we have over-raced which we feel has affected our chances of winning the most important titles. Now we have created our own team with our own roster that is aimed at trying to win key events, like the Cape Epic and the Marathon World Championships,” explained Evans, who missed the Attakwas race, which he won last year, as he was recovering from an appendectomy.
“It was great to start off the new year with the new team with a win,” beamed George. “While our public commitment to our goals may seem a little unusual, it’s our way of getting people behind us, especially South Africans who are marathon-racing mad and keen to see a homegrown team win the Cape Epic.”
360Life is a new-generation, flexible life insurance solution, developed by Nedgroup Life. It is supported by an integrated holistic wellness programme called ‘become’, which encourages a balanced lifestyle of which George and Evans are ideal ambassadors. Nedgroup Life is a division of Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banking organisations.
Evans and George are very particular about their equipment and with the creation of Team 360Life, were in the unique position of being able to choose their bikes and gear.
They have chosen SCOTT bicycles and will be doing most of their marathon and stage racing on SCOTT Scale 29 RC (29-inch wheel hardtail) and SCOTT Spark RC (26-inch wheel dual-suspension).
“We are very excited to have two of the best marathon racers in the world choosing to ride SCOTT bikes,” said Brandon Els, CEO of Probike, the South African distributor of SCOTT. “Their professionalism and experience cannot be questioned and we believe as much as they do that they can be the first South African team to win the Cape Epic.”
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