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Johannesburg - Olympic rowing champions, Matthew Brittain and James Thompson, say they are looking forward to taking part in their first Absa Cape Epic mountain bike race from March 17 to 24 in the Western Cape.
“We've always wanted to do the Cape Epic, its been part of our dreams and I think its good training for us, you need the endurance base to be a good rower and we've convinced our coach that this will be good for us,” said Mathew Brittain at the launch of the Cape Epic book entitled African Epic.
“We are hoping to enjoy it and not get injured and seize this opportunity as it's a once in a life time opportunity for us.”
The two members of the gold-winning men’s lightweight four rowing team at the 2012 London Olympics would be making their debut in the tenth edition of the race which has attracted top riders from around the world as well as athletes from other sporting codes.
After the gruelling eight-day challenge, the duo would immediately shift their focus back to rowing, with the World Rowing Championships in South Korea from August 25 to September 1, as their main focus.
“We have aspirations to perform at the World Championships in August this year,” said James Thompson.
“All four of us are back and we have some new guys involved in the team and first of all each of us are going to get in the boat and make sure we're the best four athletes.
"Then we're going to go forward and try perform at the World champs which is part of our goal towards the road to Rio.”
Thompson, Brittain, John Smith and Sizwe Ndlovu stunned the rowing world last year when they won the Olympic Gold medal in the lightweight men's four.
