![\"ccs-62657-0-75689700-1472633859.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-75689700-1472633859.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>RMB Change a Life Academy’s Mboneni Ngcobo beams from ear to ear after winning the 21km race of the Mandela Day Marathon MTB Dash and looks forward to proudly displaying his trophy that bears Nelson Mandela face in his home. Supplied\/ Gameplan Media<\/span><\/p>\nOn the mountain biking front, Sthembiso Masango showed his RMB Change a Life MTB Academy team mates the way home in the 42km feature race, narrowly missing out on sixth place after a sprint finish with Julian Jessop.<\/p>\n
\u201cSthembiso really rode nicely and it was fantastic to see him in the mix with some of the province\u2019s top guys the whole way,\u201d says Dreyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very focused, trains extremely hard and is riding better than ever at the moment so it was great to see him get such a good result and we look forward to seeing how he and the rest of our MTB team go at Hill2Hill in September.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also tackling the 42km MTB race, Ndumiso Dontso pipped team mate Mazwi Smimango to the line \u2013 the pair finishing twelfth and thirteenth respectively \u2013 while Sipho Kupiso, Bongumusa Zikhali and Sizwe Mkhabise all finished inside the top 30. <\/p>\n
In the 21km clash, Mboneni Ngcobo successfully defended his crown while Siyanda Masango and Scelo Mhlongo rounded out the CAL one-two-three.<\/p>\n
\u201cMboneni is currently studying Agricultural Management and Environmental Science through UNISA and recently spent a week up in Pretoria doing his practicals, so it was nice for him to be able to ease back into things a bit through the 21km race.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also said afterwards that taking part in and winning this particular race made him proud to be African!\u201d<\/p>\n
Like their cycling team mates, the Valley of a Thousand Hills setup\u2019s Merchants supported runners also rose to the occasion with Phaka Gwala, Siyabonga Ngcongo and Thulani Skhakhane finishing inside the 8km race\u2019s top ten,<\/p>\n
Mthobisi Mvelo and Mxolisi Zondi claimed the top two steps of the 4km event\u2019s podium while CAL paddling ambassadors, Sbonelo Khwela and Banetse Nkhoesa, finished in thirteenth and fifteenth place respectively in the 15km challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Merchants came onboard, our running team continues to evolve,\u201d explains Dreyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of our focus remains on Obstacle Course Racing \u2013 particularly the national Jeep Warrior Race series \u2013 but trail runs still remain very much part of our plans as well, especially as it helps our guys develop a good base for the Warrior Races.\u201d<\/p>\n
SUMMARY OF RESULTS<\/strong> 21km<\/strong> MERCHANTS CHANGE A LIFE RUNNING TEAM \u2013 MANDELA DAY TRAIL RUN<\/strong> 8km<\/strong> 4km<\/strong> Martin Dreyer\u2019s Change a Life (CAL) Zulus embraced the \u2018triumph of the human spirit\u2019 wholeheartedly over the weekend as they performed admirably in various events that formed part of the Mandela Day Marathon festivities. Honouring the life and times of South Africa\u2019s national father, former President Nelson Mandela, the Mandela Day Marathon MTB Dash and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2272,2273],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-17672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-change-a-life-zulus","tag-mandela-day-marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17672"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=17672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
RMB CHANGE A LIFE MTB ACADEMY \u2013 MANDELA DAY MARATHON MTB DASH<\/strong>
42km<\/strong>
7.Sthembiso Masango 1:51.31
12.Ndumiso Dontso 1:56.41
13.Mazwi Smimango 1:56.43
24.Sipho Kupiso 2:02.00
26.Bongumusa Zikhali 2:03.16
29.Sizwe Mkhasibe 2:09.53<\/p>\n
1.Mboneni Ngcobo 48.40
2.Siyanda Masango 50.16
3.Scelo Mhlongo 50.33<\/p>\n
15km<\/strong>
13.Sbonelo Khwela 59.27
15.Banetse Nkhoesa 1:00.39<\/p>\n
7.Phaka Gwala 35.54
8.Siyabonga Ngcongo 36.05
9.Thulani Skhakhane 37.12<\/p>\n
1.Mthobisi Mzolo 23.17
2.Mxolisi Zondi 23.19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"