a[s]g PYCycling Academy Press Release

So after months of work and planning, we are excited to announce that our new academy will be kicking off next year from the 1st of January 2013!

We are very excited to say that we have partnered with ASG, who will be our title and major product sponsor for next year, and hopefully for years to come.

Our vision for the academy stems from the fact that there are very few professional mtb outfits locally, and that we wanted to bridge the gap between good amateur riders and the top level riders in the sport. We found that during the last couple of years, we have helped and coached several good cyclists, but noticed that even with them obtaining fantastic results, there was little assistance for them to progress in the sport, and therefore they became despondent.

So we decided to group our efforts and try to match up all the puzzle pieces to make what has now become the ASG MTB Cycling Academy.

The academy has a few different tiers; with its main focus being to coach and mentor cyclists, and help them reach their dreams. Along the way they will often need support, not only at race events, but also in the form of bike maintenance, enabling them to get to and perform in the events they would like to. With this in mind, we have partnered with several fantastic companies, which will be able to offer that support throughout the season.

The pinnacle of this is a sharp upper tier in the academy, including cyclists over a very broad age spectrum, all with their own goals and incentives, giving the academy team fantastic diversity.

Some of the riders we have worked with and will be working with next season include:

Arno DuToit(U23): Overall S.A. XCO u23 Cup Winner. 3rd SA XCO champs and overall senior men MTN Marathon series

Joel Hieber(YM): Winner Spur schools series youth, past 2 years

Amy McDougall(EW): 2nd Nissan Trail Seeker series Elite Women, SS women’s World Champ

Nicholas Popich(JM): Nissan half marathon overall series winner, USN half marathon series winner

Catherine Colyn(YW): 3rd Junior ladies XCO championships. 3rd women MTN half marathon series

Neville Ackerman(MM): SA masters TT champ, 3rd masters Worlds TT champs, 3rd SA XCM champs

Angie DeBoer(EW): 3rd Elite woman overall Nissan Trailseeker series, 3rd  3Towers

Edwil O’Neal(U23): 5th Overall half marathon series, 2nd XCO Provincials

Marcel Marais(U23): 10th Spur School series, 9th National series

Jacques Pretorius(YM): Overall winner youth Nissan Trailseeker half marathon series

Petru Ebersohn: 3rd Elite Women 3Towers

These are some of the riders we will be supporting next year and are very excited about what the future holds for them as well as many others.

But why we are really excited about the academy is that it doesn’t end there. We are offering a few tiers of support, depending on what the athlete’s schedule looks like and how much they can commit to cycling. This is a great way to inspire cyclists at all levels, and help them achieve their goals, no matter what they are. It is also a way for us to “talent-search” and hopefully discover and encourage new talent.

A HUGE thank you to our partners in this project, and we look forward to working with them far into the future! They include:

ASG: Title sponsor

Continental: Tyres

Ritchey: Accessories and wheel sets

San Marco: Saddles

High 5: Nutrition

Cycleops: GPS and power meters

Squirt: Chain wax and bike wash

Crank Bros: Pedals

Bat Seal: Tyre sealant

Magura: Brakes and suspension

Photizo: LED Light therapy

Dimension Sport: Massage therapy

Scicon: Bike bags and accessories

Epic Sports: Bike and tech support

IMC Reaction: Alarms, monitoring and reaction

Sixs: Under-garments

Zefal: Pumps and accessories

So as you can see, we have been busy and are really excited for 2013!! We have already started with our base training, as well as skill sessions building up to next year. Our first away Academy training camp will be held in Oudtshoorn from the end of December to the beginning of January.

Should you have any enquiries or would like to get involved with the club or the academy, then please feel free to contact Paul at: info@epicsports.co.za or (012) 643 0504. Or should you be interested in joining, you can do so either online www.epicsports.co.za, or at Epic Sports Cycling shop itself (012 643 0504). If you are interested in up-to-date news or following the academy’s progress, then please follow us on twitter: @asg_pycycling, and we will try to keep everyone up-to-date on the academy’s activities and achievements. We also have our blog site up and running, where all the athletes contribute, giving some interesting reading about all the academy’s activities. If you would like some good race reports, stories and photos, then go to www.pycycling.blogspot.com.

Regards

Paul and Yolande