SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN’S SUCCESS AT THE ABSA CAPE EPIC

There was much excitement when South Africans Candice Lill and Mariske Strauss won Stage 3 and then the final stage of the 2022 Absa Cape Epic. The excitement was justified because the last time a South African pair won a Cape Epic stage was way back in 2011! There’s been a relatively moderate amount of success in the Cape Epic by South African women, with only 13 having won stages and seven having won the race overall. Here ‘s the detailed breakdown with photos of them all…

By Joanne Badenhorst

While overall victory is the most important title to pursue at the Cape Epic, stage wins are also significant for any bike racer. The fact that Strauss and Lill’s stage win is the first by an all-South African team in over a decade is telling when you consider that the event takes place in South Africa and the country is a hotbed for marathon and stage-racing.

The last all-South African team to win a stage was Hannele Steyn and Leana de Jager, who won Stage 5 in 2011. There have been South African stage wins since then, but by South Africans partnered with riders from other countries. The last time the race was won overall by an all-South African team was in 2007 when Anke Moore and Yolande de Villiers secured the title. That’s why the Lill/Strauss partnership has been such a significant one for the host nation.

*Mariske Strauss and Candice Lill win Stage 3 of the 2022 Cape Epic. The first all-South African team stage win since 2011! | Photo: Sam Clark/Cape Epic*

Hanlie Booyens is the most successful South African female at the Cape Epic. She has won the race overall twice – in 2004 and 2009, both times partnered with the late Sharon Laws of England. With a total of 18, Booyens is also the most prolific South African stage winner. Booyens and Laws won seven stages in the 2004 and all eight stages in the 2009 edition. She won the other three with Michelle Lombardi in 2005.

Other South African overall winners are Hannele Steyn and Zoe Frost, who teamed up to win the 2005 edition, including five stages; and Anke Moore and Yolande de Villiers, who paired up to claim the 2007 title, winning all eight stages. Those are the only all-South African teams to have won the coveted race title.

*Hanlie Booyens, photographed here on Stage 4 of the 2004 race, is the only South African to have won the Cape Epic overall twice. | Photo: Holde Schneider/Cape Epic*

Booyens (with Laws) won her two titles in the two eras of the event. The race route from 2004 until 2008 was a point-to-point format from Knysna to Stellenbosch, where riders would spend each night in a different location. From 2009, the format changed to offer a more compact route, with multiple stages starting and finishing from just three or four locations.

Two more South African women won the title in the ‘modern era’. Karien van Jaarsveld, the 2011 SA marathon champion, teamed up with England’s Sally Bigham to win the 2011 title and Beijing Olympian, Yolande Speedy, paired up with England’s Catherine Williamson to win the 2013 edition.

Riding the final stage very cautiously with a broken collarbone, Yolande Speedy (right) is the last South African woman to have won the overall women’s title at the Absa Cape Epic. | Photo: Karin Schermbrucker/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS

Speedy, who won the Cape Epic Mixed category with Paul Cordes in 2007 and 2010, crashed on the penultimate stage in 2013 and broke her left collarbone. In an incredible display of courage, she completed the final stage to secure the title.

Robyn de Groot, who says the 2022 edition will be her final Cape Epic participation, has the second highest number of Cape Epic stage wins among South Africans. Her 10 stage wins have come with three different partners in four editions of the race.