INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Riders tackle the terrain on Lourensford Estate in Somerset West during the first day of the Contego Wine2Whales MTB Adventure. Photo: Brenton Geach

Tradegy overshadowed the start of a Cape adventure mountain bike race on Friday when three men, who were preparing part of the trail, were swept out to sea.

One of the bodies was washed ashore and the police diving unit resumed its search for the other two men at first light on Friday.

The three had been preparing part of the track on Thursday for the Contego Wine2Whales MTB Adventure.

The event started at Lourensford Estate in Somerset West this morning.

Head race organiser Michael Meyer said on Friday the men had been working for a company which had been laying pallets on the beach at Onrus.

The pallets, which would enable cyclists to cross the sand, led to a bridge crossing the river alongside the beach.

Meyer said he had been told by the company that 24 contracted workers had spent laying the pallets on Thursday.

Upon finishing their work, three of the men had entered the sea to fill empty bottles with saltwater.

It appeared that the three had either been knocked off their feet by a vigorous shore break or had been pulled out to sea by a powerful rip current, he said.

“Obviously we’re incredibly sad. They were contracted workers working for a company which had assisted the race enormously, and we send our condolences to the families,” Meyer said at the start of the race today.

He said that special mention would be made of the men and the tragedy during an event tonight after the day’s riding.

The NSRI’s Craig Lambinon confirmed the incident, saying one body had been recovered from the ocean by an unidentified surfer. The man was dead when he was brought ashore, he said.

At the time of going to press the other two men had not been found.

In another incident, an NSRI team responded to reports of a missing child in Stanford’s Klein River at about 5.10pm on Thursday.

NSRI rescue swimmers had scoured the bottom of the river and found the body of the missing boy, a nine-year-old from the Stanford area, Lambinon said.

An inquest docket had been opened and no further information was available.

Despite the tragedy it was all systems go this morning as torrential rain soaked the 760 riders taking part in the adventure.

The 380 teams of two began their three-day journey at Lourensford Estate, and immediately tackled the slopes of the Helderberg mountain, just as the heavens opened.

The rain, which had been predicted by forecasters, posed an interesting challenge for the riders.

Undeterred, the teams strained their way up through pine forests and vineyards, orchards and fynbos, past the farm’s trout hatchery, and down to the Lourensford winery.

Already covered head to toe in mud, they then began their journey to Vergelegen Estate, before the brutal ascent towards Gantouw Pass – the old eland, Stone Age and Settler trail – which crests the Hottentots Holland mountains into the Elgin Valley.

This weekend’s event will be followed next weekend by the Contego W2W MTB Race.

The Cape Argus is sponsoring the second and third events, with the tours running over three days, taking cyclists from one of the province’s most elegant wine farms, Lourensford Estate in Somerset West, to Onrus on the famed Whale Coast.

The adventure and the race follow the same route, which takes them 220km through some of the Western Cape’s most beautiful scenery, from delicate green vineyards to soaring mountains. – Cape Argus