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<\/a><\/p>\nEvery man for himself is not something you\u2019ll hear often at the Old Mutual joBerg2c. In fact, it\u2019s very much the opposite at the country\u2019s longest MTB stage race, where the race organisers do everything in their power to get people over the line.<\/p>\n
There is a cut-off time for each day, but sweeps, bike mechanics and anyone else involved with the ride are allowed to chip in and make sure riders finish all of the nine stages.<\/p>\n
Participants, too, are always willing to help each other out, even if that leads to some longer than necessary days in the saddle. That\u2019s what happened to rider Sam Bladergroen during the middle part of the joBerg2c on a particularly gruelling stage that went from Winterton to Glencairn Farm in the Underberg.<\/p>\n
Bladergroen and two other riders, both doctors, stopped to help a woman who had fallen on a technical section near the end of the 93km Day 6. They waited alongside her until she was able to be taken off the route by the medics. It meant that Bladergroen and his ride partner Rob Morgan were almost the last people to cross the line. They still rolled over with big smiles in a time of 9 hours and 30 minutes, with Bladergroen, despite the long day on the bike, professing his love for the day\u2019s route and the joBerg2c experience overall. \u201cIt\u2019s 10 000 percent better than last time,\u201d enthused Bladergroen.<\/p>\n
Six minutes after the pair had completed the day, the honour of finishing last on the stage when to an international rider, Christopher Hinks of Dubai. Hinks had also stopped earlier in the week to help out a struggling female rider over the course of two days and had been paying the price for his few days of Samaritan work. \u201cI rode really slowly with her for a while, but then she decided to pull out and I had to race to catch the rest of the field. It left me very drained,\u201d says Hinks.<\/p>\n
On Day 6, he also crossed the line solo, this after his partner \u2013 who came into the race having barely recovered from a bad bout of food poisoning – was forced to abandon the race after Day 2 due to lingering ill-effects.<\/p>\n