The Absa Pride, a group of Absa-invited riders and clients that participate in the Absa Cape Epic and a variety of Absa organized events throughout the year, had their final get together for the 2017 Absa Cape Epic recently. The focal point of the evening was the highly anticipated announcement of the winner of the 2017 #Conquerasone competition in association with Bicycling Magazine.
The event was hosted at LandRover Sandton and had a number of key personalities from the mountain biking fraternity in attendance, including Absa Cape Epic Founder, Kevin Vermaak, Absa Pride riders from over the years as well as Springbok legends John Smit and Joel Stansky.
As part of the #Conquerasone campaign, Absa hosted two separate #Conquerasone inspired competitions. The first competition was a pre-race competition launched in partnership with Bicycling. Riders were encouraged to share inspirational stories of adversity whether on a bike or in their personal lives with the public being mobilized to vote for their favorite story. The winner of the first competition was Justin Jeffery.
Justin story and journey is more than deserving and a complete celebration of the human spirit. As a biokineticist, he has been working to help rehabilitate people who have brain and spinal cord injuries. Over the years he has participated in a number of races, which he does on a tandem to provide people with various disabilities an opportunity to experience the race. Justin’s main mission is to continue to inspire and assist people with limited physical ability to experience joy on the bike. His story is one that totally epitomizes #Conquerasone.
The second competition was hosted during the 2017 Absa Cape Epic race. The premise of the competition was to celebrate and recognise the spirit of teamwork and perseverance at the race. Over the 8 days of the race Absa challenged all participants to rally those around them to conquer the world’s premier mountain bike race. On each day of the race, one team embodying human spirit in overcoming the challenges posed to them were recognised and rewarded. An Absa appointed judging panel selected a daily #Conquerasone moment with the winners receiving a #Conquerasone race jersey to wear proudly during the next day’s stage. At the end of the race one overall #Conquerasone moment was selected and awarded to Bruce Campbell and Anthony Daniels.
Bruce Campbell defied everything that medical doctors and textbooks say about the human body when he crossed the finish line at the 2017 Absa Cape Epic. The 29-year-old is different from most athletes his age as he suffers from Pompe disease, a rare neuromuscular disease, which causes extreme muscle weakness and pain and impairs organs from functioning normally. Despite the odds stacked against him, Bruce overcame this condition to complete the race for the first time, with race partner Anthony Daniels. Bruce and Anthony started training about six months before the race, even though Bruce experienced extreme pain throughout his pre-race training he refused to give in or give up, showcasing the same sheer determination that saw him Conquer the 2017 Absa Cape Epic
As part of the final step of the #Conquerasone competition the two competition winners would go up against each other in a public vote on bicycling.co.za. With over 6,500 votes cast it was announced that Justin and Bevan Jeffery narrowly beat Bruce and Anthony and walked away with the complimentary Absa Pride entry to the 2018 Absa Cape Epic.
Runner’s up Bruce and Anthony were initially awarded a free Epic Trippers experience at the 2018 event, but with only 2% separating the winners the Absa team announced that they would also get a complimentary Absa Pride team entry to the 2018 edition of the Absa Cape Epic.
Adam Brooke, Sponsorship Manager at Absa, said: “We are extremely happy with this year’s #Conquerasone initiative. It has far exceeded our modest expectations. The interest in the competition was huge. There were so many amazing and unique stories that came through in the build up and throughout the race. The two winning stories were so inspiring it was only fitting that we reward them, Absa therefore decided to give them both an Absa Pride entry to the 2018 race. We are extremely excited to welcome these amazing people to our Absa Pride family”
“The feedback and interaction that the #Conquerasone campaign received proved how inspiring these incredible stories were. Nothing gets people more fired up than seeing how powerful the human spirit can be,” said Mike Finch, Editor-In-Chief Bicycling Magazine South Africa.
Karl Platt and Christoph Sauser win NTT Masters category in fine style
