A LARGE contingent of former Springbok legends are set to descend upon this year’s KAP sani2c, which takes place from 11 to 13 May. The smattering of South African Rugby Legends Association (SARLA) teams, represented by former Springbok household rugby names and rugby personalities, such as Stefan Terblanche, Butch James, Brent Russell, Trevor Halsted, Neil Penrose and Shaun Payne, among others, are looking forward to tackling the mountain biking voyage from Glencairn, Underberg down to the KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast town of Scottburgh.

“Sani2c is such an incredible, fun event and every time we take part we have such a jol that we cannot wait to go back each year,” said SARLA CEO, Stefan Terblanche.

While the internal rivalry amongst the SARLA teams is hard to ignore, the former rugby icons still find the time to take in the route’s spectacular scenery while also relishing reuniting and working together with some of their former team-mates along the way.

“We ride the first two days in our respective pairs as best we all can and there is also often a lot of banter exchanged between the guys in the evenings, just like there used to be in the change room back in our playing days. On day three, we usually all ride down to Scottburgh together though, enjoying the last bit of the adventure as a group with some of the stronger guys helping pull the weaker guys,” explained Terblanche.

2015 saw 1995 Rugby World Cup winning flyhalf Joel Stransky and Cell C Sharks flyer Shaun Payne race their way into podium contention during the first two days of the Adventure event that they were freed of their final stage duties and allowed to embrace their competitive nature once more.

“Last year Joel (Stransky) and Shaun (Payne) were right up there in the top three after the first two days so they went for it again on day three and eventually finished second overall. It just goes to show the competitiveness still in some of our guys. Unfortunately, Joel isn’t able to join us for this year’s sani2c but we still look forward to having a fantastic bunch of former players, friends and sponsors again this year,” he said.