Biogen, one of South Africa’s leading sports supplement brands, has increased its commitment to mountain biking in 2023. In addition to being a long-time sponsor of major mountain bike races and selected mountain bike trails parks, Biogen has added some high-profile mountain bike racers to Team Red for this year.
Paid partnership with Biogen
Mountain biking is one of Biogen’s primary focus markets and the brand’s Perform-X Range is ideally suited to providing committed mountain bikers with high-quality energy, recovery and peripheral support products, which come in powdered mix drinks, ready-made mix drinks, capsules, effervescent tablets, gels and bars.
In addition to its significant backing of UCI events, Attakwas Extreme, Tankwa Trek and Cape Pioneer Trek (in conjunction with Momentum Medical Scheme), Biogen also supports a number of other established South African mountain bike events as well as the MTO Garden Route MTB Trails in Plettenberg Bay.
Biogen has supported both individual athletes and teams in various sports for more than a decade and will increase that support this year, adding South Africa’s double-Olympian and top-ranked international female racer, Candice Lill and the Valley Electrical Titan Racing team to its athlete programme.
“It’s an honour to be partnering with one of, if not THE premium sports nutrition brand in South Africa. Biogen always has such a big presence at major mountain bike races and I’m looking forward to what we can achieve together as a partnership. We have some cool ideas to build up the women’s side of mountain biking that I’m looking forward to being a part of,” said Lill.
“As a professional athlete it’s comforting to know that my nutrition supplement brand is firmly against the use of drugs in sport. And to back that up, they have reserved batches of certain performance-focussed products that are sent through the Informed Choice and Informed Sport testing and certification process in the UK. This is really important when you invest so much into a professional sports career,” added Lill.
“As a South African athlete, it’s awesome to partner with a proudly South African brand. I have been using Biogen products throughout December and January in my training and am impressed with the quality and the broad range. From a favourites perspective so far, I’m loving the grape-flavoured Cytogen and Carbogen carb drinks – it tastes like a fizz pop sucker to me! I also enjoy the Strawberry Recovergen and the Beetroot and Pumpkin Energy Gel. Never thought that would be something I’d consume on the bike, but it’s really good! And I do also enjoy the Chocolate and Caramel nougat bars. They’re tasty and so easy to chew while riding,” grinned Lill.
Bronze medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Lill is once again aiming high and has a few primary goals for 2023.
“I want to win the Cape Epic this year, with Mariske Strauss as my partner. We have been second a few times, but I’m hoping we can pull off the win this year. And then in Cross-Country, which is my main discipline, I want to win the National and Continental titles and finish in the top 10 at a World Cup,” said Lill.
Biogen’s backing of the Valley Electrical Titan Racing team will see a number of strong mountain bike racers enjoying the benefits of high-quality Biogen products for racing and recovery. The team is headed up by former Junior African Champion, Rossouw Bekker and includes multi-discipline racers, HB Kruger and Tiffany Keep and mountain bike racing specialist Matt Key. A new addition for 2023 is former Elite South African XCO and Marathon Champion, Gert Heyns.
“As the Valley Electrical Titan Racing Team, we are super excited to be partnering up with Biogen for the 2023 season. As a team, it’s always difficult to find a nutrition brand that firstly works for everyone and then also offers a good range of products that fulfils everyone’s needs,” said Rossouw Bekker, team owner.
“Partnering up with Biogen is great because we feel that there is synergy between the team’s brand we have built over the last four years and Biogen’s goals and alignment with Informed Sport batch testing of all the products we use as well as the events they have partnered up with already being on the team’s calendar,” added Bekker.
“Biogen has always been a keen supporter of talented, committed athletes as we know that to be your best is a long and challenging journey that requires consistency, discipline and integrity. We see these qualities in Candice and the Valley Electrical Titan Racing team members and look forward to helping them achieve their 2023 objectives,” said Brandon Fairweather, Biogen Brand Manager.
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Paid partnership with Biogen
