Pietermaritzburg – Following hot on the heels of his hugely successful Valley of a Thousand Hills canoeing Academy, ‘Dusi Duke’ Martin Dreyer and his RMB Change a Life Academy have set their sights on the two-day BSi Steel dusi2c mountain bike race on 21 and 22 June.
They have forged a partnership with the race sponsors BSi Steel which has facilitated two two-rider entries for the sold-out two stage mountain bike race from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg to Blue Lagoon in Durban.
Having branched out from canoeing in the past few years Dreyer’s RMB Change a Life Academy has grown with riders taking part in races all around Kwazulu-Natal and looking to widen their net further into races throughout the country.
Dreyer has a good relationship with the BSi Steel CEO William Battershill and he feels that the combination is a good one and will be beneficial for both parties.
“I have done quite a bit of riding with William, who is originally from Pietermaritzburg,” Dreyer said. “He heard about Change a Life and decided that being the title sponsor he would give some of my riders the opportunity to take part in the race.”
Photo: Dave Macleod/Gameplan Media
With all his riders coming from the Valley of a Thousand Hills and the race going through this area of the province it seemed that it was fairly logical for the riders to get the chance to ride through an area that they know so well.
“BSi Steel has supplied us with two entries for the race and it is going to be a great event for the local guys with them being able to ride in their own back yard. The guys are super excited and having their families there to watch them ride will be really great for them!” a proud Dreyer mentioned.
Mountain bike stage racing is something that has become a large part of the racing calendar in South Africa and for the riders in the academy being amongst people from different cultures is another way that they can grow as people and as riders.
“I think that the stage races are a phenomenal platform for the guys to interact with other people, it is such a unique interaction with everyone being in the same place overnight and eating the same food it means that the socio-economic circumstances become irrelevant.
“Interacting like this can be intimidating for the guys early on but when they on the bike they realise that they are stronger than the majority of the people they ride against and this sort of confidence can only help them,” he explained.
Having had three entries into the 2013 edition of the race, this year will see two riders, John Nthuli and Mboneni Ngcobo, return for the second instalment of the event and two first-timers in Mduniso Dontso and Sthembiso Masango joining the former two for the gruelling two-day adventure.
With two entries sponsored by BSi Steel Dreyer has entered a third pair into the race with Sipho Kupiso and Bongumusa Zikhali also taking up the challenge in the 2014 instalment of the race. Zikhali partnered Ntuli in last year’s race and they ended in fourth place overall so the BSi Steel RMB Change a Life riders could prove to be a tough nut to crack in 2014.
BSi Steel sees this as an opportunity to help out in the community and a lot of what they do for the race is geared at the people down in the valley so assisting with the Change a Life team is something that Executive Director Craig Parry is happy about.
“BSi Steel are proud to sponsor the Martin Dryer Change a Life development team in this unique and challenging event.
“We are passionate about empowering people to create the results they want in life – having local heroes from the valley, participating in the event, we hope to unite and inspire the spectators from the local communities. For these talented riders there could be no better opportunity to show case their skills to families and friends,” Parry explained.
Having been title sponsors for the first edition of the race in 2013 BSi Steel has been hard at work trying to create opportunities for the people in the Valley to better themselves and it seems like a great fit as the riders from Dreyer’s team are trying to do just that.
“Our involvement, reaffirms our committed to being a responsible member in the communities within which we operate. BSi Steel is passionate about empowering people to create the results they want in life.
“The BSi Team is behind these talented riders who have shown great commitment in their training program and we wish them all the best,” Parry concluded.
More information can be found at www.dusi2c.co.za
Source: Gameplan Media
