{"id":20039,"date":"2015-05-07T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2015\/05\/07\/memorable-joberg2c-for-rmb-change-a-life-zulus-r2521\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T10:58:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T10:58:17","slug":"memorable-joberg2c-for-rmb-change-a-life-zulus-r2521","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/memorable-joberg2c-for-rmb-change-a-life-zulus-r2521\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorable joBerg2c for RMB Change a Life Zulus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c was a memorable nine days of mountain biking adventure for five of Martin Dreyer\u2019s RMB Change a Life MTB Academy as the fast-emerging Valley of a Thousand Hills stars went toe to toe with some of the country\u2019s best stage racers and were able to walk away with their heads held high afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-97303700-1431014881.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RMB Change a Life MTB Academy’s Sthembiso Masango (front) and Mboneni Ngcobo charged towards fourth place in the team category of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c. \/\/ Photo: Jetline Action Photo\/Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n

Academy stand-out Sthembiso Masango and regular riding partner Mboneni Ngcobo led the way for the RMB Change a Life setup as they were the fourth team across the line, followed closely by fellow academy members Ndumiso Dontso and Sipho Kupiso in seventh while team captain John Ntuli finished third in the competitive Solo Men’s category.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unbelievable week and a huge challenge for our guys!\u201d said RMB Change a Life MTB Academy founder Martin Dreyer. \u201cFor all three of our entries to mix it up with some of the top professional mountain bikers in South Africa was really pleasing to see and will be good for their confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot can go wrong when you race for nine days in a row, riding 900-plus kilometres. We had the odd fall here and there but all in all the guys managed to keep it together and their consistency and ability to \u2018vasbyt\u2019 was really impressive while their top-end PYGA hardtails played an important role in their journey across our beloved country as well!\u201d<\/p>\n

While things didn\u2019t necessarily go perfectly according to plan for the three RMB Change a Life outfits, the five riders\u2019 ability to hang in there when the going got tough and then recover towards the end of the race was another positive for Dreyer.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-17367300-1431014875.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RMB Change a Life MTB Academy’s Sipho Kupiso (front) is hotly followed by partner Ndumiso Dontso en route to seventh place in the team category of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c. \/\/ Photo: Em Gatland\/ Gameplan Media.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately our guys didn\u2019t take heed of their mistakes at last year\u2019s race and flew out the blocks way too quickly on day two \u2013 the first timed stage of the race \u2013 which resulted in a nuclear explosion within each one of them three quarters of the way through the stage, even finishing behind the leading women!<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all got their ducks in a row on day three though and from then on they rode like champs, making great improvements since last year\u2019s joBerg2c.<\/p>\n

\u201cSipho (Kupiso) was struggling with a tummy bug for two days and his partner Ndumiso (Dontso) really showed great awareness and character to nurse him through those stages before going full gas again once Sipho had recovered!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"ccs-62657-0-05436200-1431014872.jpg\"<\/a>RMB Change a Life MTB Academy and Elite Athlete Development Programme member John Ntuli clinched a memorable third place in the highly competitive Solo Men’s category of the 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c. \/\/ Photo: Jetline Action Photo\/ Gameplan Media.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

A stand-out performance by Masango and Ngcobo on the penultimate eighth stage on Friday 1 May saw them step onto the team podium, further solidifying their fourth place in the team category.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was lovely to have our guys representing RMB Change a Life on the podium while John (Ntuli)\u2019s effort also shouldn\u2019t be underestimated!\u201d said Dreyer.<\/p>\n

A member of the Elite Athlete Development Programme supported by the KZN Department of Sport and Recreation, Ntuli is a vastly experienced campaigner and with him facing stiff opposition from his fellow solo competitors, was forced to dig deep in order to secure his individual podium position.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn was up against some top individual riders and glancing through the results, over 50% of the overall top 20 were solo riders, showing the strength of this category this year and emphasizing just how strong John\u2019s performance was!\u201d added Dreyer.<\/p>\n

The academy will now turn their attention towards the 60km Sappi Karkloof Marathon which takes place on Sunday 10 May as part of the 2015 Sappi Karkloof MTB Festival before they look to tackle the iconic Nedbank sani2c from 14-16 May.<\/p>\n

SUMMARY OF RESULTS \u2013 RMB CHANGE A LIFE MTB ACADEMY<\/strong><\/p>\n

OLD MUTUAL joBerg2c<\/strong><\/p>\n

TEAM<\/strong><\/p>\n

4.RMB Change a Life 1 (Sthembiso Masango\/Mboneni Ngcobo)<\/p>\n

7.RMB Change a Life 2 (Sipho Kupiso\/Ndumiso Dontso)<\/p>\n

SOLO MEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.John Ntuli (RMB Change a Life)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2015 Old Mutual joBerg2c was a memorable nine days of mountain biking adventure for five of Martin Dreyer\u2019s RMB Change a Life MTB Academy as the fast-emerging Valley of a Thousand Hills stars went toe to toe with some of the country\u2019s best stage racers and were able to walk away with their heads […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1259,286,2813],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-change-a-life","tag-joberg2c","tag-rmb-change-a-life-zulus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20039","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=20039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20039"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}