{"id":21961,"date":"2013-03-19T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2013\/03\/19\/olympic-gold-medalists-thompson-and-brittain-complete-stage-2-of-the-2013-absa-cape-epic-r544\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:32:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:32:38","slug":"olympic-gold-medalists-thompson-and-brittain-complete-stage-2-of-the-2013-absa-cape-epic-r544","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/olympic-gold-medalists-thompson-and-brittain-complete-stage-2-of-the-2013-absa-cape-epic-r544\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic gold medalists Thompson and Brittain complete stage 2 of the 2013 Absa Cape Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic rowing champions Matthew Brittain and James Thompson of team PwC Rowers Ride for JAG have successfully completed stage 2 of their first Absa Cape Epic mountain bike race in a time of 5:47.21, 6. With an overall time of 6:53.19, 7, Brittain and Thompson are placed 42nd<\/sup> in the men\u2019s category and 54th<\/sup>overall at the end of stage 2.<\/p>\n

Matthew Brittain (25) and James Thompson (26) won gold medals in the Men’s lightweight coxless four<\/a> event at the 2012 Summer Olympics<\/a>. Says Thompson: \u201cBikes have always been a passion for both of us. We\u2019ve always asked whether you can do the Cape Epic on rowing toning, and after the games we sort of got the opportunity through Kevin Vermaak and then obviously through PwC. They gave us this opportunity to come ride it and now we\u2019re just seeing if it\u2019s possible. We\u2019ve managed to but it\u2019s pretty real out there. It\u2019s not easy, I\u2019ll tell you that for sure – we\u2019re used to much shorter training. So to do the long stuff is a lot harder, a very different environment for us but we really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on his health in this race Brittain says: \u201cI got better and better through the day, but still not perfect, still really queasy. Every time I eat something or go hard then there\u2019s a bit of nausea. I think I got a bit of a fever or something. Feeling pretty cold and hot the whole ride, but I\u2019m going to shower and see the doctor and see what they have to say about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Brittain, \u201cEveryone knows the Epic is hard but I don\u2019t think people realise how hard. It\u2019s day in, day out hard and we\u2019ve only done two days so far. I think by the end of the week everyone is going to be pretty tired. The terrain is tough and the distances are long, and its relentless, it doesn\u2019t stop. But it\u2019s awesome, we really enjoyed it. I think I can tick it off my bucket list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson adds that they are riding for the JAG foundation. \u201cWe\u2019re looking to raise funds through their give and gain website that can be used to educate and develop children in need, using the platform of sport. Sport has taught me so much and so I understand the value they can add to these kids\u2019 lives.\u201d <\/p>\n

Adventure enthusiasts not participating in the Absa Cape Epic are invited to enter the Liqui Fruit Cape Times Vineyard Races<\/em><\/strong>, which consist of the Vineyard Ride <\/em><\/strong>and Vineyard Run<\/em><\/strong>. The races promise participants breathtaking scenery and spectacular terrain. The Vineyard Run<\/em><\/strong> offers a fun run (6km) and a trail run (15km) and the Vineyard Ride<\/em><\/strong> offers a 26km and 51km race. Interested riders can register online at www.vineyard-races.co.za<\/a>. Closing date for entries is 1 March or when entries sell out.<\/p>\n

Visit www.cape-epic.com<\/a> for more details and to see where the riders are online during the race.<\/p>\n

Share in the legend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic rowing champions Matthew Brittain and James Thompson of team PwC Rowers Ride for JAG have successfully completed stage 2 of their first Absa Cape Epic mountain bike race in a time of 5:47.21, 6. With an overall time of 6:53.19, 7, Brittain and Thompson are placed 42nd in the men\u2019s category and 54thoverall at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21961","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21961"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}