Ketchum firefighters and professional endurance athlete Rebecca "Reba" Rusch is seeing the sights of South Africa this week. She's no tourist, though.
"I'm over in South Africa for the Cape Epic, an eight-day mountain bike stage race that is by far the most competitive stage race in the world," she wrote via email to supporters.
Rusch, 40, a two-time 24-Hour Endurance mountain bike champion, is competing with her coach Matthew Weatherly-White, 45, of Boise in the 685-kilometer (424.7-mile) stage race that features over 14,000 meters of climbing.
Entered as a Mixed Team, Rusch and Weatherly-White comprise the Specialized/Red Bull squad. In all, there are 561 twosomes and over 1,100 cyclists including Olympians, pros, world champions and citizen racers in the field.
Through the first three stages Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Rusch and Weatherly-White were riding well enough to be the second-leading American team—fifth among Mixed teams and 42nd overall in the General Classification standings of all teams.
"It is my second year competing in this event as my own spring training camp and a great travel experience," said
Rusch, whose partner fell and broke her collarbone in the fourth stage of last year's race, forcing the Rusch duo to withdraw from ABSA Cape Epic.
In Saturday's Cape Epic 17k prologue through the recent burns of Table Mountain near Cape Town, Rusch and Weatherly-White placed fourth in Mixed and 48th overall with a final time of 53:08 minutes.
Rusch said, "I was very pleased with that. All of the women in the top three Mixed teams were Olympians, and we were surrounded on all sides by world champions. We made a great statement. The top six Mixed teams were all within six minutes of each other."
Sunday's first stage on a very hot day was a 112k (69-mile) ride from the idyllic seaside town of Gordon's Bay to Villiersdorp, with 2,729 meters of climbing. Rusch and Weatherly-White were sixth in Mixed and 44th in General Classification, out of 561 teams. Their time was 7.08:22.
Monday's second stage was a 110k route around Villiersdorp. Team Specialized/Red Bull improved to fifth Mixed and 40th General Classification, still the second-ranked Americans, with a final time of 4.52:57.
In Tuesday's 73k race from Villiersdorp to Greyton, Rusch and Weatherly-White were fifth again in Mixed at 4.17:41, less than 25 minutes behind the Mixed leaders Big Tree Adidas (3.54:29, 25th GC) featuring Canadian Alison Sydor.
Stages coming up: Today, Wednesday, a 114k course at Greyton. Thursday, March 26: A 111k distance from Greyton to Oak Valley. Friday, March 27: An 86k ride around Greyton. Saturday, March 28: The seventh and final stage at the shortest distance, 60k from Oak Valley to Lourensford.
Visit cape-epic.com.
Matthew Weatherly-White and Rebecca Rusch in South Africa. Photo by
