Bobby Behan has bought a kilometer!!! Thank-you for your contribution to the project.

He is the manager for the Specialized Factory Team, which Christoph Sauser rides for. He has a special place in his heart for South Africa, more specifically Stellenbosch. I ask him to write for the blogg…

In 1999, my relationship with South Africa but particularly the area of Stellenbosch started. I can recall in the months leading up to that day when I stepped off the plane, reading about Stellenbosch and the fact that so many great athletes went there to train. After lots of searching for South Africa’s top triathlete Conrad Stoltz on the night after The 1999 World Triathlon Championships in Montreal, Canada and once meeting him, to hear from the man himself that I should come to Stellenbosch; I finally made the move.

So I got off the plane in Cape Town airport in October 1999, with no idea of where I was, but I knew where I was going – “taxi driver I am going to Stellenbosch”. I can still remember being dressed for the European winter and once those plane doors swung open, a waft of heat hitting me …. Damn it was hot! I finally arrived into this beautiful quaint town and thought – wow, this is heaven! I knew nobody, but this was not to be a deterrent. The very first athlete I met, apart from the “big fella” Francois Retief (trust me he is big!!), the excellent sports masseuse, who works from the university sports arena, was Christoph Sauser. Christoph is fondly known as Susi, so within a short space of time I was sharing a house with Susi and a great friendship ignited!

Nine years later and I can fondly call Stellenbosch “my home away from home”. My native Ireland is a very warm welcoming country and I am happy to say that I found South Africa and especially Stellenbosch to be the same. I have made friends for life in Stellenbosch …. “friends who would put their hands in the fire for me”! I cannot visualize my life without an annual trip to “my home away from home”!

I was accepted with open arms into this great country, so now it is nice to have the opportunity to give something back to this beautiful area of the world. As Team Manager for Specialized Bicycles it’s a pleasure to see Christoph completing The Cape Epic in a bid to raise money to build a BMX Track for the kids in Kayamandi. As Christoph said himself, there’s nothing like seeing the smile of excitement on a child’s face.

I hope as many as people as possible can get behind this great initiative.

Yours in sport,

Bobby Behan

(L-R: Christoph Sauser (Susi) and Francois Retief - “I told you Francois was big”)

(The 2006 Cape Epic Team: L-R: Bobby Behan (Specialized Team Manager, Ireland), David George (South Africa), Christoph Sauser (Specialized Team Rider and Swizerland) and Benno Willeit (Specialized Team Mechanic, Italy)

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 9:10 am and is filed under categories: ABSA Cape Epic, Burry Stander, Christoph Sauser, JAG Foundation, Kayamandi, bobby behan, songo.info, specialized and tags: , ABSA Cape Epic, bobby behan, Burry Stander, Christoph Sauser, JAG Foundation, Kayamandi, songo.info, specialized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.