With the Absa Cape Epic just around the corner, our two teams went to Meerendal to have some fun and work on their technical skills.
Category Archives: News
Pride and excitement at official unveiling of CPUT’s Absa Cape Epic teams
With less than two weeks to go until the start of the world’s toughest mountain bike race, the four riders who will sport CPUT colours in the Absa Cape Epic say they are all raring to go.
Etienne Joubert, Sarita Louw, Mteza Boya and Seraj Abrahams were all given hearty encouragement at last night’s event, particularly from keynote speaker, Vice-Chancellor Dr Prins Nevhutalu.
Speaking at last night’s event, the VC urged the athletes to do the university proud as the national and international spotlight is shone on the beautiful Wellington Campus in the Winelands.
“The magnificence of our campus, which was voted the best host village last year in this world-renowned event, will once again be on display.”
Riders are set to arrive in Wellington on Wednesday, 16 March; this marks the end of stage three of the race. The following day, riders compete in a 71 km stage, also ending at the Wellington Campus. On Friday, 18 March, riders will leave Wellington for Stellenbosch as they set out on stage five of the race.
This year, apart from just being a host village, CPUT has entered two teams. CPUT alumnus and lecturer in the School of Sport, Events, Tourism and Hospitality, Etienne Joubert, is heading up Team CPUT. He’ll be riding with CPUT alumnus, Sarita Louw, in the mixed category of the stage race.
And most excitingly, in what is considered a first for CPUT and the Absa Cape Epic itself, The Professional Provident Society (PPS) is sponsoring a so-called development team, Team CPUT PPS.
Riders Mteza Boya and Seraj Abrahams will race in the Exxarro category, which stipulates entrants must be under the age of 26 and from formerly disadvantaged backgrounds.
TEAM CPUT PPS: (from left) Gerhard Koekemoer (PPS Regional Manager, Western Cape), rider Mteza Boya, Linda Stanford (Branch Manager, Cape Town), rider Seraj Abrahams, Riana O’Neill (Branch Manager, Tygervalley)
PPS’s Riana O’Neill says “CPUT and PPS are making history with this sponsorship of a development team entered in the Epic. We see this partnership as an ideal vehicle to entrench our business in the growing recreational sport sector. This is a segment in which many of our current clients already participate and many more potential clients are expected to become involved.”
Support our teams on social media: #epicCPUT16 | #teamCPUT | #teamCPUT_PPS
For more photos of the launch event, visit our FlickR album.
Choosing CPUT’s riders
To take part in the Absa Cape Epic, you have to be the best of the best. And so, when CPUT set out to choose team members for Team CPUT and Team CPUT PPS, we were looking for the very best.
The teams were chosen from individuals who are part of the CPUT community; staff, students, and alumni were invited to apply to participate in the process to choose the team. All in all, 75 people applied and 11 eventually went on to complete a battery of physiological tests at the High Performance Lab at the Mowbray Campus, and a 2-month training programme. After the training programme, participants were retested to measure their improvement.
Participants also took part in psychometric testing conducted by Student Counselling on the Bellville Campus.
From the start, it was decided that CPUT would enter a mixed team and a development team.
The team was chosen based on the outcome of the two rounds of testing to ensure the best possible outcome for the two teams at the Absa Cape Epic, which is labelled as the toughest mountain bike stage race in Africa.
Giant boosts development team hopes with loan of mountain bike
The world’s leading brand of quality bicycles and gear, Giant, is throwing its weight behind CPUT’s development team in this year’s Absa Cape Epic.
It takes a village…
It’s not just the riders in the Absa Cape Epic who put their blood, sweat and tears into the race. Indeed, the event wouldn’t be a success at all without the many behind-the-scenes players involved.
PPS – proud sponsor of Team CPUT PPS
Mthetheleli Boya and Seraj Abrahams are two up and coming mountain bike riders who are set to make their debut at this year’s Absa Cape Epic. The duo, who will ride as Team CPUT PPS, are competing in the Exxarro category. This is a development category reserved for riders who are under the age of 26 and who hail from formally disadvantaged backgrounds.
Their debut is being made possible by the Professional Provident Society (PPS), a financial services company in South Africa that offers financial solutions for graduate professionals.
Absa Cape Epic cycles its way to CPUT
Voted the best Absa Cape Epic host village in 2015 has paid off for CPUT.
The university has once again been handpicked to be part of South Africa’s premier mountain bike event, which takes place this March.
Vacancies at F’SATI
The Africa Space Innovation Centre (ASIC) at the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI) currently has the following vacancies:
Chief Engineer
Senior Engineer
Development Engineer
See each link for more information on the relevant positions.
Southern Africa and Maputo Bay.
Certificate in Cyber Security
“Cyber Security is not just about technology. It’s more about people and managing risks in cyber space.”
“Spy Cables expose South Africa’s alarming security failings”
These are just some of the headings around the globe today as spy documents are released on sites such as www.aljazeera.com and www.theguardian.com/uk
The documents highlight (amongst others) the current lack of adequate cyber security policies and effective security governance frameworks as well as the failure to implement suitable technologies and controls, especially within the government sectors. Of more concern is the mentioned shortage of skilled cyber security people in key positions as well as a shortage of adequate training programs. Security awareness amongst general employees is problematic and basic to advanced cyber security training programs are not efficient.
Cyber security is not just a buzz word, but rather encapsulates proper understanding of security threats and vulnerabilities, design and implementation of effective controls, cyber-criminology and warfare, detailed risk management and effective security governance across all spheres of the business.
The Certificate in Cyber Security developed and offered as a partnership between academia and industry, is a step to build capacity in cyber security and to address the shortages in focused training opportunities for corporate staff.
For more information and to register for the course.
Offered in partnership between the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI), CS Interactive Training.
More information:
Team 2015
CPUT was the proud co-sponsor of staff member Etienne Joubert and his race partner, Leanne Brown-Waterson, who are top mountain bike riders. The team was also sponsored by Display Mania, a Montague Gardens based company.