Mourning the Loss of Two of South Africa’s Mountain Biking Legends

In the anarchic early days of mountain biking, Meurant Botha pioneered events, festivals, and trail building. Many a mature rider got their racing start at a Dirtopia festival in the 2000s, while the following generation came through the Spur Schools’ League in the 2010s. The refreshed Schools League used Botha’s three decades of experience to create a race standard that the host schools can implement to stage high-quality events, while minimising the costs. 

While Botha will be best remembered by his beard, cowboy hat, and smile, as he cast an expert eye over proceedings at an event, his impact as a trail builder cannot be overstated. From the Simonsberg Trails – where he and his wife, Arina, staged wine farm trail runs, fun Enduro races, and provided singletrack sections for iconic events like the Die Burger MTB Challenge – to trail building consulting across the country, his eye for flow and ecologically conscious approach to singletrack creation was highly prized. Botha held himself and others to an exacting standard, recognising that landowners will only buy into trail networks if the trails themselves and the riders who use them provide the farms with more benefits than hassle. 

JP van Zyl combined his passions for classic cars and bicycles from his Recycles shop in Bellville. Frequent participants in stage races will know Van Zyl from his stage race mechanical service packages. At the Absa Cape Epic, Recycles typically provided expert mechanical service throughout the race for a select group of riders who had pre-booked their packages. In contrast, at FNB Wines2Whales, services were a more ad hoc affair. During wet editions of the race, Van Zyl and his fellow bike shops have been known to virtually exhaust the Western Cape’s brake pad stock, replacing front and rear pads for almost every bike in the field. 

Both men had stories aplenty as well as fresh ideas, which they were always willing to share. Their contributions to the sport went far beyond building trails and keeping wheels rolling smoothly at races; they held a vast and varied knowledge, linking stakeholders from corporate sponsors to up-and-coming young riders within their personal networks. Their wisdom, tales of yesteryear, and vision for where the sport could grow will be as deeply missed as their practical impacts. 

On behalf of the Epic Series’ community of staff and riders, we would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt condolences to Arina, Kaylee, and Meurant Junior, as well as Tristan van Zyl and Jo Owen in particular. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Botha and Van Zyl families in this exceptionally difficult time. 

May the blessings of light be upon you,

Light without and light within.

And in all your comings and goings,

May you ever have a kindly greeting

From them you meet on the road.