Scott Mercier's South African Connection

Rapport Toer 1996

Type in the name Scott Mercier to an internet search engine and the terms 'professional cyclist' and 'author' are bound to predominate. Yes, the American was indeed a professional rider, and an exceptional one at that. A late starter in the sport, Scott represented the US at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 after only 18 months in the sport, turning professional soon after. And yes, he is a scribe, his autobiography Win True having been released this past February. While the book details Scott's racing career, it is interwoven with life lessons using the peloton as a lens.

These days, Scott calls Colorado home. Married with two children, he works in finance and rides his bike for leisure. Rewind almost three decades, though, and some of his greatest memories as a racing cyclist took place on the roads of South Africa in a two-wheeled battle royale.

Eddie King

A Springbok in Belgium 

The 1970s weren't exactly great days for South Africa. 1976 was an especially tumultuous year for the Republic, which was making international headlines for all the wrong reasons. The sports boycott was also in full force and the country was coming up for its fourth exclusion from the Olympic Games. Apart from the likes of distance runner Marcello Fiasconaro competing for foreign nations (Italy in Marcello's case), no South African sportsmen or women could officially compete in the international arena. Unofficially, though, it was a different story.

The header photo of the Springbok cycling team circa 1976 is a veritable "who's who" of South African cycling folklore. Allan Dipple, Eddie King, manager Gotty Hansen and Robbie McIntosh are sandwiched in between Alan Van Heerden and Ertjies Bezuidenhout. Unbeknown to most, the "Green and Gold" was being represented with distinction on two wheels in the Low Countries that year. Which begs the question: what (and how) the heck was a South African sporting team competing internationally at the height of the country's pariah status?

Sanlam Kermesse Series 1993

Besides the Rapport Toer and Giro del Capo, the beginning of each year would see another multi-day pro-am road cycling event take to the streets of South Africa. The Sanlam Kermesse Series was a lucrative series of town centre races around the Western Cape.

With official international competition having started to grace our shores in late 1991, the 1993 edition of the Sanlam series featured in these magazine clips sees a host of foreign names intermingled with the top SA talent of the day. More foreign riders would follow suit in the ensuing years adding to the quality and sheer diversity of the startlist. Where else would you find track cycling legend Danny Clark and cyclo-cross star Mike Kluge in the same criterium series? In South Africa of course!

Interestingly, the "find" of the series featured here is that of Moolman Welgemoed. An excellent track and road cyclist then competing for the local AWH Motors team. "Moolies" would go on to compete with distinction as part of a highly talented SA National Team in the following year's Rapport Toer managed by Robbie McIntosh and is still a stalwart of the Cape Town cycling scene to the present day.

Mark Blewett Interview 2010

Soon after posting our article on veteran professional rider Nic White, one of his fellow National teammates of 1994, Mark Blewett, posted a comment reminiscing about Nic’s story of their participation in the Rheinland Pfalz tour of that year against the likes of 1993 Amateur World Road Cycling Champion, Jan Ullrich.

If you were a competitive cyclist in Cape Town in the early 1990s, you would be familiar with the name of Mark Blewett. Climber supreme and one of the friendliest elite riders around, Mark once famously exclaimed on national television during the mountainous Hansom Tour in Mpumalanga: ‘I’d rather be surfing at Long Beach in Cape Town than riding up here searching for King of the Mountain points!’

Now a successful businessman based in China, Mark was kind enough to give us a fascinating insight into his former life as an elite cyclist with the goal of turning pro in deepest, darkest Europe.

Nic White Interview 2010

February 1995 and the riders in that year's edition of the Rapport Tour were setting off one by one in the prologue time trial around the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

One of the early starters was a young rider from Johannesburg riding as part of the South African national team who set a blistering time for the course to take pole position on the leaderboard. 

With most of the tour  favourites only starting later on in the day, it would only be a matter of time before his moment of glory would end. But by the end of the day, Nicholas White would still own the fastest time and be the proud wearer of the leader’s jersey at the beginning of a memorable and dramatic Rapport Tour.

Nic has certainly come a long way since that day over fifteen years ago and is now one of the elder statesmen of SA cycling. As a professional cyclist for Team Medscheme, he has certainly had his fair share of ups and downs.

We recently caught up with the charismatic White who is on his way back to full fitness after an injury-plagued few months.

Douglas Ryder Interview 2010

The Boland Bank Cycle Tour of the 1990s was a popular end of season sojourn for many of the world’s top professional cyclists after a hard year of racing on the unforgiving roads of Europe.

The 1995 edition was no different boasting a line up that included the mighty Spanish ONCE squad who, along with Team Telekom and TVM were expected to dominate the race and earn some easy money.

But a young Cape Town rider had other ideas and in a week-long tour that came down to the final sprint in Stellenbosch, a plucky Douglas Ryder riding for the Old Mutual SA National Team held on for a nail-biting victory over a classy field of professional and amateur riders alike.

Now the owner of Team MTN-Energade, Doug kindly relayed his journey through the world of cycling from an aspiring pro to running a professional cycling team over a number of disciplines. 

Bernard Rose Encourages Zola Budd

Like every issue, the April 1987 edition of SA Runner magazine has several gems. From Arnold Geerdts' insightful and humorous race reporting of the Leppin/Sunday Times Ironman (editor Arnold was on the ground seconding eventual winner Henk Watermeyer) to stand out advertisements (Willie Mtolo is the central figure of the Polly Shorts spread), the content makes for great reading.

Of particular interest to me, though, is Bernard Rose's monthly column.

Fleet-footed Rose was at the peak of his running career at the time and uses his literary skill to encourage the-then chronically injured Zola Budd to seek out the help of a mythical Johannesburg quack. The term "quack" is not meant to be derogatory – it's just that Dr. Ron Holder's methods of injury healing and integrative health were not exactly standard fare at the time. Rose sings the praises of Ron and rightly so – many an individual, including Springbok captain Francois Pienaar made full recoveries from injuries thanks to his methods.

SA Runner magazine

A few weeks ago, I was given a pile of old SA Runner magazines from the 1980s.  Having misplaced or lost most of my own collection, as well as having always had a keen interest in history (especially all things sporting and Southern African), I jumped at the chance to acquire copies of this long forgotten publication.

Apart from the host of familiar names, races and results of years past, the cover photos and advertising really stand out.

That said, it was the list of contributors and journalists that caught my eye.

Larry Lombard, Peter Walsh and Arnold Geerdts (to name a few) were all prolific contributors over the years, always very articulate and informative. But as I've been flipping through each issue, one scribe stands out.

Monty Paul's name is credited to many of the articles as the Western Province correspondent. Monty is also the photographer of the dramatic shot of Chris Sole high above Cecilia Forest on the back slopes of Table Mountain, with Ou Kaapse Weg in the background. I recall Mr. Paul as a rather stern teacher at SACS when I was in primary and high school elsewhere. He was very involved in school athletics and cross country at the time, particularly with the organisation. An especially wet and windy cross country race at Bishops stands out, with start official Monty shouting at us shivering athletes to line up enthusing "that this is real cross country weather, gentlemen! Get in line!"

Thanks John Brimble for the magazines, as well as Bob de la Motte for putting us in touch.

Peter Verbeken

An interesting quirk of satellite TV in 1980s and 1990s South Africa was the screening of lesser known sporting events, like professional lifesaving from Australia. This extended to cycling and besides the nightly Tour de France highlights fans were also treated to an annual one hour package of Britain's Milk Race, one of the hardest pro-am races at the time.

I doubt that many will recognise the rider in picture. Peter Verbeken wasn't exactly a household name in pro cycling but he was a quality rider. Spending his entire professional career on Belgian teams, Peter claimed his fair share of victories. Like here on camera where he decimated the field on the final stage of the 1992 Milk Race, (also South Africa's first participation) into Lincoln trying to snatch overall victory from Ireland's unheralded Conor Henry. A crash early race had set him back and he was clawing back as much time as he good, but Conor prevailed in the end. Peter's name popped again a few years later, closer to home this time with a similar solo victory into a windy Durbanville at the 1995 edition of the Boland Bank Tour.

Fast forward a few decades and I was sitting on the Gordon's Bay beachfront a few Februaries ago with a colleague during some training camp downtime. We had just concluded a morning beach run and were killing time at a cafe until our riders returned from training. He posted a photo of the idyllic setting only to receive a ping a few minutes later – from Peter! Turns out that they had worked together on another team and still kept regular contact. Peter enthused about the seaside village having stayed there both as a rider on Collstrop-Lystex and later on as a staff member for Team Telekom on their annual training camps. Missed the place so much, he said, especially considering he was probably enduring yet another grey day back in Belgium.

What is Peter up to these days, I enquired?

Still in Deinze, it emerged, and now in logistics. Peter runs a cycling team's service course (storage warehouse) by day. Unlike many of his contemporaries, though, he keeps in great shape by training like a triathlete in and around the lush environs of East Flanders.

Photo credit: Phil O'Connor

Andrew McLean and Heiko Salzwedel 1993

Punching Above Weight

To continue from where I left off with the Willie Engelbrecht post, it was a few weeks later that a similar encounter occurred. While hanging out laundry in the brakkish surrounds of a southern Italian hotel,  I got chatting to the coach of a rival team who looked vaguely familiar. Like before, he enquired about my accent and enthused about South Africa. Turned out this guy was Heiko Salzwedel, the legendary German coach.

Heiko was heading up the Great Britain squad when we met and he related to me the trips he had made to South Africa with the Australian National Team in the mid-1990s. Loved the place, he said, before going on to talk about the 1993 Rapport Toer and how his former German team were instructed not to talk to him as their coaching staff regarded him as a traitor! He asked about Willie Engelbrecht, the Beneke brothers and Andrew Mclean, who lost that tour on the final day into Nelspruit before heading off to Belgium to ride for a team there.

When I told him that Andrew was still racing at a high level, Heiko smiled broadly, visibly impressed.

'Mclean was a tough rider, eh? Very good at that stage race in Cape Town (Giro del Capo). When I brought my Giant-ZVVZ team to that race in 1997, we had our team photo taken at the entrance to the Waterfront and got fined by the police!'

Willie Engelbrecht's European Adventures

A South African Six Day Star

Fishing through my “historical” bookshelf today, I came across these two old magazines of 1990 vintage. Both covers feature Willie Engelbrecht, aka “Die Blonde Blits” and one of South Africa's finest ever cyclists. A prolific winner on the local circuit, lesser known perhaps is Willie's forays overseas, particularly on the European Six Day track racing and German criterium circuits. I was reminded about this four years ago at one of the velodromes he raced at, the Eddy Merckx velodrome in Ghent. While wheeling the team bikes out through one of “Blaarmesen's” back entrances, an administrative staff member started asking me what I was doing, before enquiring about my accent.

'Ah, South African,' he enthused. 'I raced with Engelbrecht in the Six Days! Great rider and teammate! Very talented!'

Turns out this “admin guy” was Ferdi Van Den Haute, Belgian track cycling legend, who indeed raced with Willie and Mark Beneke on the ADR team in 1987. Willie was listed as Willy, though, one of his nom de guerres so as to throw authorities off his track as South Africa was still banned from international sport at the time.

Memories of Belgium

My Time in Flanders

This weekend is “Opening Weekend” in Belgium, where pro cycling's Classics specialists line up for Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday, followed by Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday. And I'm excited. Having read the memoirs of adopted Flandrians Joe Parkin and Aussie Allan Peiper many moons ago, I always wondered what the cycling life in Belgium would be like, not to mention the heritage and culture. Well, life certainly throws one curveballs at times and I finally got to realise this aspiration almost four years ago.

Being taken on as a soigneur/verzorger (carer/slave) on an international cycling team in 2017 allowed me the privilege to immerse myself in the world of Belgian racing. Based in the East Flanders town of Oudenaarde right below the Koppenberg forest, our racing schedule saw us competing at least four times weekly all over Belgium. Kermesses formed the backbone of this program along with a few criteriums and U23 Classics. Racing program aside, it was more living and breathing in the culture and mixing with the locals that really stood out, not to mention their benevolence.

When our staff accomodation was scheduled to be taken by another team, hosts Christian and Hilde graciously found us an alternative in nearby Markedal. No more sharing rooms – we each had our own space in renovated private bar on a semi-palatial estate! Then there was our trusty team car literally conking out in the middle of the N60 after another race. Christian came to tow us and found a garage in Ninove that would take care of the specialist repairs. Time was tight but the car got fixed. Or when I needed some osteopathic help with some our riders. Step in Michiel Van Aelbroeck and Alice Pirard who fit us in at their practice in the cobbled centre of Ghent (a great city by the way).

Time certainly flew by, as it tends to do when you are super busy in pleasant environs and it was time to move on to the next assignment in Italy. I did manage to make it back to Belgian the following year with another team, although this trip was somewhat fleeting and saw a chicken lay an egg whilst taking a sip out of my cup of tea. But that is separate discussion altogether.

A Coaching Story

Snakey, Shipwreck and Bilateral Breathing

A recent conversation got me thinking of the lasting impact that those individuals senior to us can have in our formative years. I'm talking about a positive effect, of course. Bemoaning the "bulking up" of teenage rugby players and the pressure and negative effects thereof, the said individual and myself wondered about the sporting direction and longevity many of these young guys would have post-high school. Would they even remain active? Let's face it, few school leavers carry on playing rugby or even cricket upon graduation. On the flip side, we are now seeing quite a surge in mass participation sports like triathlon, road running and mountain biking among thirtysomethings and upwards, a large part of that being in the ultra-distance realm. And not always in a healthy manner. But that is a separate discussion.

Chris Lillywhite

Talking Nineties Pro Cycling

Professional road cycling in Great Britain went though a heyday of sorts in the 1980s. With two major international stage races (Milk Race and Tour of Britain) held each year, as well as a fairly comprehensive domestic road racing calendar, the “bread and butter” for most of the UK-based professional riders involved a fully televised series of criteriums sponsored by Kellogg's. This meant that there were quite a few home-based professional teams too. As far as the cream of the crop of this racing scene was concerned, one name that stood out was that of Chris Lillywhite. A prolific winner on the criterium circuit as well as victory in the last ever edition of the Milk Race, a lesser known fact is that Chris plied his trade abroad on several occasions, including regular soujourns to the Southern Hemisphere. Case in point the Commnwealth Bank Classic of 1995.

'I was part of the British national team that competed in the World Championships in Duitama in Colombia that year,' says Chris. 'And this meant we had the opportunity to prepare at altitude in Colorado for a good few weeks leading up to the championships. So I was in good form.'

Paddy Murphy 1990

The Original SA Triathlete

The header photo features two of South Africa's triathlon pioneers. Taken in December 1990, the late Keith Anderson (right in the pink helmet) is being marked closely by Dr. Paddy Murphy.

The location is Cape Town's Baden Powell Drive, a stark and exposed stretch of road skirting the upper crest of False Bay, Keith and Paddy being at the sharp end of a Longmile-sponsored “Double Standard” triathlon held from nearby Zeekoevlei. Yes, there were endurance events held in that neck of the woods many years ago, and, yes, people actually swam some 2km in the aforementioned vlei. A tough event nonetheless, with good prize money and challenging distances, which attracted the cream of South Africa's “tri crop” for a lucrative pre-Christmas duel.

Catching Up with Nick Bester

Still Going Strong

Is ultra-marathoning at an elite level healthy?

Well, that depends. Here in South Africa, at least, there are plenty of athletes (past and present) to talk to when it comes to this topic. And having recently caught up with one past Comrades champion, we certainly did a bit of talking.

Nick Bester (pictured right) doesn't run much anymore. Which is understandable if one considers his Comrades track record. Sixteen starts saw Nick enjoy nine top-ten finishes, including victory in 1991 plus a few close runner-up placings. Interestingly, though, is that he withdrew from the 90km slog between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on only one occasion. With a broken knee. Yes, Nick certainly earned the nickname “Ysterman”.

1997: Mark Allen's Year of Change

Retirement from pro sports isn't easy for most. And this especially applies to those at the top of the ladder. Sport is their identity and calling it a day opens up a whole host of new challenges, one of of which is the realisation that one quite possibly might not be as good at anything else ever again. So how did Mark Allen cope with his own transition into civilian life?

1996: Mark Allen's Parade Lap

Mark Allen's Hawaii IRONMAN success is well known. Along with his 10 titles at the Nice International Triathlon, “The Grip's” hold (sic) on all things long distance triathlon is both well known and well documented. His 1989 ITU World Championship victory aside, Mark's sheer speed over the shorter formats is somewhat less acknowledged. After all, he did actually race a final full season of Grand Prix events in 1996, culminating a startling runner-up place behind the then dominant Simon Lessing in Thailand.

Tim Stewart 1989

A Cape Doctor Yarn

Pictures can say a thousand words, that is for sure. And this header image is no different, which I saw on a friend's timeline a while back. While I've been meaning to write this for a while, a phone conversation recently prompted me to finally put out some words.

It has been almost thirty years since this photo was taken. It shows an exhausted Dr Tim Stewart crossing the line first at the inaugural Longmile Double Standard Triathlon at Woodbridge Island, Cape Town in late 1989. While there were several long and ultra distance triathlons in other provinces of South Africa at the time, it had been a while since the Western Province hosted an event longer than the standard or “Olympic” distance events. Tim, along with a host of other South African speedsters, specialised in this shorter distance, regularly posting performances that were comparable to their overseas professional counterparts. But because South Africa was still under the international sporting boycott of the time, only a handful of local athletes had tested themselves against the best in the West. Simon Lessing had already left the country to pursue pro career in Europe, using his dual-British citizenship to be eligible to compete overseas, as had the likes of Mandy Dean (for the then-West Germany) and a few others.

Andrew McLean's Koerse Memories

Reality Bites

February 1998. It had been a great week for the South African National Cycling Team in Malaysia. The Green and Gold was prominent in the peloton, upsetting the apple cart by leading the team competition ahead of the might professional Mapei outfit. Many of the "Euros" had turned their noses up at the South Africans. Who were these part-timers and how are they leading the team competition, they wondered? Let's put them in their place and combine resources to preserve our pride, they decided. But that was in the past now, and on a mountain known as the Genting Highlands, Andrew McLean was in relentless overdrive.