An experienced amateur mountain biker from Pretoria is looking forward with great excitement to his participation in this year’s sani2c race in KwaZulu-Natal, after he won a social media competition that gave him access to the 2020 post lockdown version of this famous race. This race, which is one of the most popular stage race mountain bike events in South Africa, involves about 265km of mountain biking over three days, with each day covering a stage of between 82km and 97km. It is one of the oldest and the largest three-day mountain bike races in the country and starts at Glencairn Farm near Underberg on the slopes of the Drakensberg in KwaZulu Natal and ends on day three in Scottburgh. This year’s event was postponed from its usual May dates until the first week of December (3-5 December), and will take place on a smaller scale due to Covid-19 compliance. Eckaard le Roux, from Pretoria East, took part in a lockdown competition to win an entry to the race. Each prospective participant had to create funny videos showing their ‘backyard’ training and posted them on Instagram. Le Roux, a computer engineer, is a well-known face on Mountain Biking practice trails around Pretoria. He regularly trains on his mountain bike at venues such as Rosemary Hill and Wolwespruit. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_iXlf6BP8v/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

However, when the 24-year-old Le Roux won the competition after getting the most views, he had one problem. His father, who in the past was his partner in other races, was not available to share this adventure with him. When Le Roux won the entry to the race, he offered to share it with Russel Meaker from Somerset West, despite having never met him before, as Russel had made such an effort to create hilarious videos. Eckaard met Russel for the first time when he visited his parents in Somerset West, and the two have done a few training rides together. “I first noticed Russel’s videos when he decided to practice for the ‘Extreme Meeker Extreme climbs’ by riding up a tree. He also posted numerous other videos which I found quite funny so when the competition was over, I just thought he would appreciate it if I offered him the other half of the entry. It was quite spur-of-the-moment,” said Le Roux. Although Le Roux and his teammate, Meaker, have only met once, Le Roux believes they will become lifelong friends at the end of the three murderous stages of the sani2c mountain bike race.  

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