This weekend, 2020 Olympic-hopeful, Mikaela Jonsson (matric student), and her Cross-Tri African Champion team mate, Michael Lord, will be preparing for Race #2 of the Totalsports XTERRA Series, which takes place from the 20 – 22 February,  at the Grabouw Country Club, Western Cape.

Jonsson and Lord did exceptionally well in Race #1: Xterra Buffelspoort; both finishing 3rd overall, with Mikaela first in category (U18). On Saturday, 14 February, Lord will be swimming the inaugural Sanlam Cape Mile, which is considered ideal preparation for XTERRA Grabouw as it takes place in the same stretch of water; while Jonsson will be competing in the first leg of the popular multisport event – the aQuellé Mudman Series - taking place in Hermannsburg, KZN.

Now in its 16th year, the aQuellé Mudman Series is an off-road multisport event encompassing running, swimming and mountain biking. Jonsson will be competing in the full-distance race - a 700m dam swim, 20km mountain bike ride and 5km trail run.

Other team news…

Obstacle Course Racing

Jeep Team’s OCR athletes are also gearing up for a major event at the end of this month; Race #2 of the Jeep Warrior Series. Thomas van Tonder and Jay Jay Deysel placed first and second respectively in Race #1 so will be doing all that they can to retain their positions.

On Saturday, Jeep Team’s Dominique D'Oliveira (2014 Jeep Warrior Series Elite Ladies winner), will be swimming the Sanlam Cape Mile as she prepares to claw her way back into the Warrior Series standings after injury forced her to withdraw from Race#1.

On Sunday, Deysel will be hitting the tarmac to cycle the Valentine’s Day Cycle Challenge 2015 – an 80km road race at Stonehaven on Vaal, Vanderbijlpark. Also on Sunday, Jeep Team’s female OCR athlete, Claudia Richard, will be competing in the Kinetic Adventure Race - a demanding 25km event near Muldersdrift, Gauteng, where teams of two mountain bike, trek and kayak.

Paddling

On Friday evening, Jeep Team’s Hank McGregor and Barry Lewin will be taking on Race #6 of the Varsity College Marine Surfski Series - the Hansa Pilsener Surfski Challenge. After winning Race#5, McGregor will be going for gold as he looks to secure an overall series lead over Matthew Bouman. Lewin will be looking to claw back his top 3 position after finishing fourth in last week’s challenge.

MTB

Jeep Team’s Dylan Rebello has an action-packed weekend of cycling ahead. On Saturday, he’ll be competing in Race#1 of the Western Cape XCO Series, and then on Sunday the 103km Tour de Stellenbosch.