Dion Guy rode with a broken rib for most of the 1 070km to finish second behind Portugal’s Marco Martins in The Munga race, which started in Bloemforntein and ended in Wellington.
Guy crossed the finish line in two days, 13 hours and four minutes, and was the first South African home. He also beat John Ntuli’s record by just under eight hours.
South African Dion Guy came second and completed most of The Munga with a broken rib. Photo: Erik Vermeulen
What made his silver medal even more special was that he completed most of the distance with a fractured rib.
“Just before the Vanderkloof Dam (approximately 200km into the race), I had a small mishap when I rode into a fence. I fell, broke a rib and lacerated a bicep,” Guy said afterwards.
“I struggled to breathe during the following stages. When I got to Loxton (approximately halfway) I had to take shallow breaths because I couldn’t inhale deeply.
“It made it even more difficult to cope in the extreme heat. I was at a point where I almost called it quits, but I forced myself to push on.”
The 45-year-old Guy said the ride through the Tankwa Karoo was especially tough.
“You don’t want to ride that section in the middle of the day. Kevin (Benkenstein) and I decided to just push on through the heat.
“We had known what was coming, but just hoped we had prepared well enough and that everything would go according to plan. We also had to make sure we had enough water.”
“From the Tankwa Padstal right through to Ceres we also faced an unbelievably strong headwind; the kind of thing you can’t predict in this race.
“You arrive at the start in the best possible shape, and you just hope the conditions play in your favour,” he added.
Guy and Martins were leading and riding neck-and-neck near the end of the second day before the Portuguese rider pulled away.
“We were playing a real cat-and-mouse game,” Guy said. “I would lead for five kilometres and then he would take over for five.
“We rode together right up to Loxton, around the 580km mark, when I decided to catch some sleep. He made the strategic decision to not sleep there and pulled away.
“All credit to him; he had a fantastic race. In the end he was the strongest one out there.”
Guy had about two and a half hours sleep throughout the race.
“I had an hour and a half in Loxton and about another hour on the side of the road leading into Fraserburg.
“All the stops also reflect on my total time, though. The race villages were fantastic. All credit to (race directors) Alex and Erik for the great organising.
“The stops were some of the highlights for me and made for a really special race,” he added.
