Songo.info, the education and sporting charity founded by Christoph Sauser in 2008, will once again be represented by some of Specialized Factory Racing\u2019s global superstars at the Absa Cape Epic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2022 the story goes beyond the elite men\u2019s and women\u2019s races, however, as Sauser teams up with his former rival, Karl Platt, to target the NTT Masters\u2019 category and two songo.info graduates pair up for the Exxaro Jersey competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local Stellenbosch riders Ntlantla Nonkasa and Zola Ngxakeni both spent their formative years in the programme and are now proudly racing in the songo.info colours and spearheading the charity\u2019s fundraising drive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an honour to race the Absa Cape Epic for songo.info,\u201d Ngxakeni enthused. \u201cI joined songo.info soon after the programme started in 2008, when I was 12 years old. Immediately I was hooked and just wanted to come ride bikes every day after school. Initially the focus of songo.info was just on bikes and cycling, but with the renovation of what\u2019s now the clubhouse, they created a space for more than just riding. Now songo.info is more like a home. The kids can come and eat lunch, do their homework and receive extra tutoring on the subjects they\u2019re struggling with at school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring the day we see a lot of kids standing at the fence around the songo.info clubhouse,\u201d Nonkasa added. \u201cIt\u2019s such a pity that we cannot accommodate more children in the songo.info programme, as they don\u2019t have much to do. Here where we grew up, in Kayamandi, it\u2019s very difficult. There\u2019s a lot of gangsterism, a lot of drug abuse, a lot of alcohol abuse. Being part of the songo.info programme helped me stay away from those negative influences,\u201d Ngxakeni explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonkasa and Ngxakeni\u2019s fundraising efforts are being supported by two of the Absa Cape Epic\u2019s most legendary names, Christoph Sauser and Karl Platt. Both have won five editions of the race and were fierce rivals during their elite racing careers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in their 40s, they are able to move beyond that rivalry and pair up in the NTT Masters\u2019 category. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mountain biking fans can follow the Absa Cape Epic from 20 to 27 March on the race\u2019s social media handles and on the official live broadcast on www.cape-epic.com. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For in-depth updates on the progress of the songo.info teams like the songo.info Facebook page, or follow @songoinfo on Twitter and @songoinfo on Instagram. Donation to the charity can be made on the www.songo.info website or via GivenGain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Songo.info, the education and sporting charity founded by Christoph Sauser in 2008, will once again be represented by some of Specialized Factory Racing\u2019s global superstars at the Absa Cape Epic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":54182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"10fcdbec-bf11-4936-b611-fb9f9ada9d20","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"","article_feature_type":"","article_main_image_caption":"","article_media_icon":"","article_template":"","author_byline":"","background_color":"","block_editor":"","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-54180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/9e121f18a5f34562a8eef3dd019c959a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63360,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/biking-action-in-khayamandi\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":0},"title":"Mountain-biking action in Khayamandi","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"20 March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The 10th edition of the songo.info Champions Race, presented by fibertime, was held through the streets of Khayamandi informal settlement in Stellenbosch on Wednesday 12 March.","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcsongo3_49314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcsongo3_49314.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcsongo3_49314.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcsongo3_49314.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcsongo3_49314.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53842,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/fairtree-riders-fare-very-well-in-the-absa-cape-epic-20220420-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":1},"title":"Fairtree riders fare very well in the Absa Cape Epic","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"21 April 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Fairtree riders fare very well in the Absa Cape Epic","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0b5f508c7b244ffdb93a15e807eef80b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0b5f508c7b244ffdb93a15e807eef80b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0b5f508c7b244ffdb93a15e807eef80b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0b5f508c7b244ffdb93a15e807eef80b.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0b5f508c7b244ffdb93a15e807eef80b.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54209,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/absa-cape-epic-2022-plaaslikes-neem-deel-20220316-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":2},"title":"ABSA CAPE EPIC 2022: plaaslikes neem deel","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"17 March 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Eikestadnuus se Angelo Julies het op die vooraand van die Absa Cape Epic met van die plaaslike fietsryers gepraat oor hul voorbereiding, verwagtings en vorige ervarings in hierdie gesogte fietsren.","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":75522,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/pushing-boundaries-at-absa-cape-epic\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":3},"title":"Pushing boundaries at Absa Cape Epic","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"3 April 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Golden Oldies successfully took on Cape Epic.","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tcepic_51531.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tcepic_51531.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tcepic_51531.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tcepic_51531.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tcepic_51531.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":296076,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/six-amputees-saddle-up-for-absa-cape-epic-ride\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":4},"title":"Six amputees saddle up for Absa Cape Epic ride","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"12 March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Somerset West artist and amputee athlete Rentia Retief is one of six riders participating in \u00d6ssur South Africa\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s Your Epic?\u201d campaign, preparing for the 692km Absa Cape Epic.","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rentia Retief from Somerset West and Travis Warwick-Oliver from Durban will team up for the 2026 Cape Epic as part of the \"What's Your Epic?\" campaign.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tcepic1_07006.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tcepic1_07006.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tcepic1_07006.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tcepic1_07006.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tcepic1_07006.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75078,"url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/epic-finish-for-fairtree-dp-world-cannondale-mtb-team\/","url_meta":{"origin":54180,"position":5},"title":"Epic finish for Fairtree DP World Cannondale MTB team","author":"Eikestadnuus","date":"27 March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Fairtree DP World Cannondale mountain-bike racing team produced their finest performance to date in the 2025 Absa Cape Epic.","rel":"","context":"In "Sport"","block_context":{"text":"Sport","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/sport\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcfairtree_74171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcfairtree_74171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcfairtree_74171.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcfairtree_74171.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/tcfairtree_74171.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Eikestadnuus","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54180"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=54180"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/eikestadnuus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=54180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}