JOEL STRANSKY
One of South Africa’s favourite sons, best known as the Springbok fly-half who scored all the points in South Africa’s fabled victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final against New Zealand’s All Blacks. Who can ever forget THAT dramatic drop-goal late in the second period of extra-time, or the images of our beloved President Mandela handing the Webb Ellis Cup to the Springboks and the national jubilation that followed as our young democracy was born? In 1997, Joel moved to the Leicester Tigers in England, where he played for several seasons, winning the 1998/99 Allied Dunbar Premiership, before becoming the Tigers’ Backs coach. Eight years ago Joel was challenged by our celebrated Olympic Silver medallist Elana Meyer to enter the Absa Cape Epic, known as the world’s premier mountain bike stage race; and the rest as they say is history.
“There are loads of wonderful moments that I have enjoyed, one of the stand-outs was crossing the finish line at my first Absa Cape Epic. The feeling of conquering such a huge challenge is one of real achievement”! Since then Joel has finished seven editions of the Cape Epic, one of the toughest endurance events in the world, competing in both celebrity and charity-based teams. Last year (2017) he crashed during the opening Prologue and was airlifted to hospital. Joel’s injuries included broken ribs, a punctured lung and extensive facial lacerations that required plastic surgery to repair. But determination is one of his strengths and he was back again to tackle the 2018 Absa Cape Epic, where he and teammate Andrew Maclean won Bronze in the Grandmasters category. Joel is married to Karen and they have two children. He is an accomplished businessman: the managing director and founder of Pivotal Capital, a TV sports commentator and international speaker.