Absa Cape Epic, Mike Hogan, Race Coverage, Thomas Dooley - March 27, 2014

Race Report: Cape Epic stage 1 and Medicenter photo gallery

‏Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

‏Jose Hermida and Rudi van Houts tag team their way to a win in the prologue stage of the 2014 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race near Cape Town, South Africa on Sunday.

‏Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

‏Nino Schurter shows off the bike handing skills—and sense of humor—that propelled the SCOTT-Odlo MTB racer to the mountain bike rainbow jersey last season. Though he may be using Cape Epic as training, we expect Schurter near the front all week.

A peek inside the Cape Epic medical tent

With so many riders spread across a vast and treacherous race course, the Absa Cape Epic organizers take safety very seriously. Our correspondent Thomas Dooley of team Kappius/Sir RIchard’s gives us a peek at the race’s impressive medical operation.

‏Photo courtesy Team Kappius/Sir Richard’s.

A group of private South African hospitals called Mediclinic set-up a mobile first aid base staffed with doctors nurses and medics to provide support for Cape Epic racers.

‏Photo courtesy Team Kappius/Sir Richard’s.

The medical center not only helps with injuries, but provides recovery aid at the end of each stage. It’s not uncommon for racers to cross the day’s finish line completely spent. Recovering for the next day’s stage is paramount to just completing the race, let alone competing for the win.

The Mediclinic has a full medical data & records center. They have medical files and histories of all the athletes, including any records obtained while they were riding the Cape Epic in the past. This allows them to be prepared adequately for a broad range of medical issues and act quickly and appropriately when a patient enters the clinic.

Some Absa Cape Epic medical operations facts and figures:

20 Beds
2 ICU beds
7 Doctors
7 Registered nurses
3 4×4 ambulances
1 ICU ambulance
1 Finish line ambulance
3 Helicopters

‏Photo courtesy Team Kappius/Sir Richard’s.

The medical golf cart gets frequent use at the finish line ushering dehydrated athletes to the Medicenter.

“Many athletes make it to the finish with absolutely nothing left and are too ill to walk to the clinic due to dehydration, illness or injuries sustained along the route that they lived with all the way to the end,” says Dooley.

The Medicenter is well-prepared for more serious situations as well. Its two-bed intensive care unit is equipped to handle incidents from heart attacks to major trauma to extreme dehydration. In life threatening situations the medical team can use on of its three helicopters to transport patients to hospitals in Cape Town, the nearest major city, within minutes.

While Dooley’s look at the medical center this year has been purely informational, at least year’s Cape Epic his look was unfortunately first person.

“The Mediclinic took care of me after breaking my collar bone during stage 1 last year—they are a tremendously caring and professional bunch,” he explained. “In fact, I was out of surgery with one plate and five screws in my shoulder before the stroke of midnight the same day.”

Here’s hoping THIS is his only look at the Mediclinic this year.

‏Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

‏World Cup XC veteran Christoph Sauser (Meerendal Songo Specialized) shows no signs of slowing down as he leads the front group of riders during stage 1 of the 2014 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike stage race.

‏Photo by Nick Muzik/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

‏Cape Epic racers have little time to take in the rustic beauty of the region. Most people know this region of South Africa for its wine production, the racers know it for its dust production.

‏Photo by Sam Clark/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.

‏While they’re better known for their power output, Eric Kleinhans (front) and Nico Bell show off their cattle slalom skills during Cap Epic’s first stage.