Kotze family conquers two tough MTB races, together!

A father and daughter duo recently took part in two famous mountain bike races just weeks apart and managed to cross the finish line together.

First, Jan and Lee Kotze geared up for the famous Sani2C mountain bike race that stretched over three days in April with a distance of 270km. It started at Glencairn and finished on the Scottburgh Golf Course. They then completed the Race to the Sun earlier in May which is a gruelling 166km gravel race that started in Hartbeespoort and ended in Sun City.

“We still felt the Sani2C race in our legs so it was a real character-building day for us both at the Race to the Sun. However, we achieved this together and are very pleased with our medals,” Lee said.

Lee added, “The Sani2C has been a dream for me and my father since we both took up mountain biking more than 10 years ago. For a decade we kept saying one day. When I heard this year’s event is the 20th anniversary of the race, we decided to finally take on the challenge we’ve been talking about. It is one thing to talk about it, but doing it is a different ball game.”

According to her, the total elevation in the course is around 4 000m which she said ‘is funny because it just shows you, that it is not all the way downhill to the beach’. She added even the event slogan reads ‘life is not all downhill’.

Lee further noted it is a team event thus you and your partner need to stay together for the entire race.

“The race is very scenic and we get to ride places where no cars can ever dream of going. It was a great achievement especially because nothing went wrong for us as a team. The race villages where we ate and slept were top notch and it added to an awesome experience. We as a family are quite adventurous so it suited us quite well.”

She noted they’ve been preparing for the race since the beginning of the year in the mornings before work. From the middle of January to mid-February they participated in races every weekend after which they continued with interval training, which is the combination of intense exercise with slower activity.

“I would encourage avid mountain bikers to enter the Sani2C is one of the most popular races in South Africa. The way that the community jumps in, to ensure that the race runs smoothly is something to experience,” she laughed.

Next, they are preparing for the Virgin Active 947 Ride Joburg, which is set to take place in November. In the meantime, they will continue to take part in additional races as preparation.

“I would just like to say thank you to our family and friends who have supported us during this new challenge, especially my mom and brother. My eyes filled with tears every evening having read their messages of support.”