Cape Epic (Pty) Ltd announced today (October 25, 2017) that the company has agreed to acquire the FNB Wines2Whales®
With only two days to go before the start of the 2017 edition, director Michael Meyer says, “We are really proud of what our team has achieved in nine years, establishing an event that is viewed as the premier three-day mountain bike stage race. The four founding partners of the event, Hendrico Burger, Dezroy Poole, Johan Kriegler and I, along with our long-standing title sponsor, FNB, have enjoyed every step of the journey, and look forward to a new era for the event under new ownership.”
Photo: Tobias Ginsberg/Volume-Photography
Johan Kriegler, who conceived of the route more than 10 years ago, says, “Now we are a big mountain biking family, with all the related benefits – support, shared expertise – and we are part of a larger movement to get more riders on their bikes, off-road, worldwide.”
The 2017 edition of the FNB Wines2Whales kicks off at Lourensford in Somerset West, hosts riders at Oak Valley Wine Estate, and finishes in the seaside resort of Onrus. The inaugural event in 2009 hosted 300 riders in the Elgin Valley and the following year attracted an impressive field of 1,100 riders, with 300 on the waiting list. It fast became a target race on local and international riders’ calendars and entries were in such high demand that the race was extended to include three consecutive events (Adventure, Ride and Race). Four thousand athletes participate in what is now one of the largest 3-day mountain bike stage races in the world.
