Freedom Trail Podcast

 Hello Freedom Family These past 15 days feel like an absolute binge on life. Watching Race Across South Africa unfold, has been deeply human, it's been raw, and it's been impossible to look away from. Thank you for joining us in following those dots and listening and tuning in to the Freedom Trail Podcast as we've been cheering on and inspired by the massive efforts put in by the men and women tackling the inaugural race across South Africa. I'm Julia Fisher and my husband Chris, and I host events and tours on the Freedom Trail, and together let's celebrate South Africa. On a trail like this, which connects 2000 kilometers from east to west, it carries stories in its dust, stories of grit, of believing and of not giving up. Riders featured in this episode:Vincent French - cap 7 Mark Fitzjohn - cap 28Quinton Rutherford - cap 37Gavin Robinson - cap 42Brett van Coller - cap 44Tim van Coller - cap 45Zach van Coller - cap 49Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, freedom Family, It is the second last day of the inaugural Race Across South Africa, day 14. The Fourth Lady and the fifth lady came in today side by side, Becky Sands and Charlene May as well as Miguel. The three of them finished together having written the last section together. It ended up being an emotional moment for Becky when you're pushing so hard and that relief and joy to get to the finish line. Well done. It really looks like Sherlene was really grateful and happy to have been able to ride with Becky and they look to have formed a beautiful friendship from the journey.Riders featured in this episode: Miguel Tiexeria - cap 35Cherlene May - cap 25Rebecca Sands - cap 3Shaun Slabber - cap 6Zach van Coller - cap 49 Tim van Coller - cap 45Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, freedom Family Welcome to the Freedom Trail Podcast, with all the news from day 13 of race across South Africa. We had 11 finishes receiving their bokkies at Dimersfontein Wine Farm today. Ingrid Avidon came in second place at half past eight this morning, finishing in 12 days and 30 minutes. She left McGregor at 10:30 last night and rode through the night to get here this morning. "Yeah, it was as expected. Very, very hard. Yeah, but lovely, like awesome times. Sometimes were not awesome. And then other times was like awesome. But generally it's just awesome." Ingrid AvidonRiders featured in this episode:Ingrid Avidon - cap 36James Parkin - cap 39Ollie Greaves - cap 11Merak Greaves - cap 10Olebogeng Kgengwe - cap 31 Arrie Rautenbach - cap 19Rob Selley - cap 33Giles Clinton - cap 8Greg Fisher - cap 29Mike Woolnough - cap 16Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, Freedom FamilToday, day 12 of Race Across South Africa. We've had an incredible 14 riders reach the finish line, 23 still muscling it out there, and eight DNFs and unfortunately 1 DNS. Guy Miles often rides to the start of an event and his plan was to ride to the start of rasa, ride it, and then ride home. He lives in Wartburg and with his loaded bike on the final descent into the race village, to the start line, guy lost control and fell off his bike. Unfortunately, he broke his hand, so was never able to start. . He had surgery a few days later, and I hope your recovery goes as well as it can guy, and hopefully we'll see you on the start line next year. Finishing today was our first lady, Sarah van Heerden, coming in an incredible 13th position in the field. "That route is absolutely amazing. I'm so thrilled I got to do it because I have to be honest, I would never do the Freedom Challenge in winter. I can't handle that cold. The route is exceptional. I mean, I don't even like people, but the people we met and the hospitality and it was unbelievable. I mean, people running out from Airbnbs to tell us to come and stay with them. No, it's so awesome." Sarah van HeerdenRiders featured in this episode:Sarah van Heerden - cap 4Peter Maritz - cap 22DONTE HERE to the SPCA in support of Sarah's incredible ride! Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, freedom Family. On day 11 of Race Across South Africa, a 2000 kilometer journey riding east to west across the southern tip of Africa. What a privilege and let's dive right into the special moments. On the finish line today in ninth position, came in Riaan Meintjes. Riaan knows the Freedom Trail well and has done each of the four segments as well as the full Freedom Challenge, and let's hear what he's got to say. "Oh, it was amazing. Such a beautiful week. I really enjoyed it. It's an absolute adventure. The people you meet are just incredible and some wildlife experiences along the way. It's just an absolutely stunning route. I think I prefer RASA, but Freedom Challenge has more magic to it, you know, this is more of a proper race and Freedom Challenge to me is more of a journey." Riaan MeintjesRiders featured in this episode:Riaan Meintjes - cap 24Martin Zettle - cap 38Clinton Halsey - cap 21Guy Jennings - cap 9Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello Freedom family,Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Freedom Trail podcast, where we hear firsthand from the riders on day 10 of Race Across South Africa.Before we dive into the rider experiences out there, Mike Woolnough shares what it's like to ride mid-pack on Race Across South Africa."We've seen some of the top guys come in and it looks like they've just written around the block. Some of them look like they have just written around the dam and come back and they look as fresh as daisies. But I mean, these guys are gladiators. You know, what's it like for Joe average? Joe average being the guys and girls who are riding Race Across South Africa and finishing outside of the top 10." Mike Woolnough Riders featured in this episode:Mike Woolnough - cap 16Kobus van Niekerk - cap 32Rudi Bassi - cap 30Nicolas Stathoulis - cap 23Duncan Luke van Niekerk - cap 40Willie di Plessis - cap 1Giles Clinton - cap 8Becky Sands - cap 3Shaun Slabber - cap 6Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, Freedom Family. Today, on day nine of Race Across South Africa, was the race for second place. Pierre Lambert made his move at check point 2. He arrived at check point 2 with the group and left before the rest of them, with Nick and Duncan ahead of him. He worked hard to stay ahead. Then last night while sleeping at Montagu. Zane overtook him in the early morning. Zane then put in a hard effort to create a gap and Zane de Decker finished in second place in eight days and seven hours. Pierre was hot in his wheels coming in one and a half hours later in third position.Riders featured in this episode:Zane de Decker - cap 26Pierre Lambert - cap 13Oliver Greaves - cap 11Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, freedom FamilyWhat a day it was for the Freedom Trail today. Drikus Coetzee took line honours in the inaugural Race Across South Africa, devouring the course in seven days, 12 hours and three minutes. He arrived at the finish line, humble and still in good shape, and shares with us some stories from the trail."It's something special. I think lots of international guys can come and do this route and come and see a really great part of South Africa. I saw, um, absolutely stunning, stunning, stunning places of South Africa" race winner, Drikus Coetzee.Riders featured in this episode:Drikus Coetzee - cap 43Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Shaun Slabber - cap 6Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Hello, freedom family. Happy Sunday to you all. Just to think on day seven while we were making our morning coffee, maybe around seven o'clock in the morning. These guys and girls had already been at it for three or four hours, five hours, maybe even. And now as we take our tea to bed tonight and cuddle up in our nice, warm, cozy beds, they are still out there. Some of their days are just exceptional and it's quite incredible to think how your body can adapt to trail life. Many of these riders will come in at the end of a long day and be absolutely staggered by what they are capable of. Riders featured in this episode:Olebongeng Kgengwe - cap 31Arrie Rautenbach - cap 19Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Shaun Slabber - cap 6Tim van Coler - cap 45Brett van Coller - cap 44Zach van Coller - cap 49Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, Freedom Family.We have such respect for the guys and ladies out there who have tackled day six of Race Across South Africa.It's not only about covering these huge distances for these riders, but overcoming all the curve balls that come with riding your bike across the country. From the storms and the mud and the bike issues. It's about how these guys and girls are able to adapt and roll with the punches. This bike race, anything can happen and how you are tested, how your resolve is tested to keep the right attitude and, know what you can control and what you can't control and how you approach those things you can't control, especially when you're tired and haven't slept and you're cold.It is incredible. What some of these guys and girls are overcoming. And although this is in the scope of a bike race, it represents how you adapt and change and roll the punches in life.Let's hear more of the stories that have unfolded today.Riders featured in this episode:Zane de Decker - cap 26Duncan Luke van Niekerk - cap 40Nicolas Stathoulis - cap 23Sarah van Heerden - cap 4Clinton Halsey - cap 21Peter Maritz - cap 22James Parkin - cap 22Olebongeng Kgengwe - cap 31Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Shaun Slabber - cap 6Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, freedom Family.It is day five of Race Across South Africa and we have got lots of excitement lined up, lots to share. Let's not delay and let's get stuck in.Drikus has got into checkpoint three today."It's been quite rough, to be honest. This is a beast of a race. Beautiful landscapes, absolutely beautiful, but it's, it's a beast. We had some pretty nasty rain and mud, having to deal with that for 200 kilometers early in the race. I needed to change my brake pads as well. One of the brake levers also doesn't function and the rain. Luckily now it's all good. Some of the terrain has been rough. Some of it has been smooth.I had a very long sleep at Peaton the previous point, just to take it all in and chill. I must be honest, I pushed the tempo till there, and then from there I had a seven hour sleep, which I never do. So from here on the plan is just to bring it home safe. Don't take any risk. Do more, eat more, sleep more, enjoy it, more, take in the scenery and just get to the finish line in one piece. That's, that's the main aim because, if you go to tempo, which I was riding at you can make a fault or mistake very, very fast, by just being sleep deprived or, you know, just pushing it a bit over the edge. And I don't want that. I wanna finish this being strong.Riders featured in this episode:Drikus Coetzee - cap 43Zane de Decker - cap 26Nicolas Stathoulis - cap 23Duncan Luke van Niekerk - cap 40Willie du Plessis - cap 1Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Giles Clinton - cap 8Rebecca Sands - cap 3Click here to dot watch the raceWatch the daily highlight videoFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, freedom Family, and we love that with this new event that Freedom Family is growing.Thank you for listening in to the Freedom Trail Podcast as we follow all the action on day four of Race Across South Africa.Paul Ingen once said to Chris and I, "who doesn't want to ride their bike across the country". That's precisely what RASA is all about and what these brave men and women are doing. The opportunity to have freedom ahead of you and tackle day by day the most exquisite scenery that South Africa has to offer. The photos coming out are just spectacular. This first section up until Rhodes is almost a third of the course, but it holds nearly half the elevation. It has been relentless out there.After leaving this first section of rough tracks and quad shattering climbs, big thunderstorms have now rolled in over the Rhodes and Barkley East Jamestown area.Riders featured in this episode:Drikus Coetzee - cap 43Zane de Decker - cap 26Duncan Luke van Niekerk - cap 40Willie du Plessis - cap 1Ingrid Avidon - cap 36Oliver Greaves - cap 11Merak Greaves - cap 10Greg Fisher - cap 29Sue Wadley - cap 14Shaun Slabber - cap 6Mark Fitzjohn - cap 28Cindy Rutherford - cap 41Click here to dot watch the raceFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, and thank you for tuning into the Freedom Trail podcast.I'm Julia Fisher, and today we are gonna be unpacking day three of race across South Africa, where riders tackle the Freedom Trail touring route, a tough, grueling to thousand kilometer cycle from just outside Durban in South Africa, all the way to Wellington in the Western Cape. Just on the outskirts of Cape Town. So these riders are essentially riding from Durban to Cape Town with a 15 day cutoff.Fortunately, everyone has got to checkpoint one, which helds the first cutoff, which is gonna be at tomorrow at 8:00 AM and everyone has already come through there. So we are celebrating all the stamps of the Brevet cards as riders successfully reach the first checkpoint.Last time we spoke, Drikus , the race leader had just arrived at Rhodes. He got in at 6:00 PM last night, and he ended up having an early sleep. He slept there at Rhodes until midnight. So the rider's strategy of where they sleep. It's quite important and I think it was a good decision for Drikus because the next stop is Barkley East and it's a small town and if he gets there in the middle of the night, it's not a guaranteed bad option. So I think he took the wise option, slept at Rhodes, and then when he left Rhodes at midnight, he went through Barkley East about half past three in the morning. And he has opened Checkpoint two at Kranskop. He got in at half past one today and he stayed there for four hours, leaving then at quarter past five this afternoon.Riders featured in this episode:Willie du Plessis - cap 1Rudi Bassi - cap 30Nic Stathoulis - cap 23Merak Greaves - cap 10Oliver Greaves - cap 11Giles Clinton - cap 8Mark Fitzjohn - cap 28Click here to dot watch the raceFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, freedom Family and thank you for joining us on the eve of day two of Race Across South Africa 2026.We have riders spanning all the way from Rhodes to Two Springs at the moment. We've just got news from Rhodes that's Drikus, race leader, has arrived and he's looking great. Not sure yet of what his plans are from there.The field goes all the way to Two Springs. A large group of riders staying there tonight, and these riders are making sure they are ahead of the three day cutoff at Checkpoint one. So the strategy of this group has been to sleep at Centocow night one, tonight at Two Springs and tomorrow they'll be at Malek, ahead of Thursday morning's cutoff at 8:00 AM. It is very durable if nothing bad goes wrong for that group.Tonight we are gonna be joined by Kevin Benkenstein. He is one of South Africa's most accomplished and respected gravel bike riders. He came a few years ago to do the Freedom Circuit 700 kilometer route and he absolutely smashed it.Riders featured in this episode:Giles Clinton - Cap 8Guest: Kevin BenkinsteinClick here to dot watch the raceFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, freedom Family, and we are back with the first day of the inaugural Race Across South Africa. Our new Freedom Challenge event that allows riders following a GPS route to race the Freedom Trail. As quoted by Sue Wadley, she says, "this race is for those who prefer riding bikes than carrying them." Race across South Africa has started today.It has been the brainchild of the original Freedom founder David Wadilove. He had always dreamt about having a race on the trail where a large section of the trail is raced with GPS enabled navigation, and today it has come into fruition in 2026.To share the adventures of the trail we are launching today, episode one of the Freedom Trail Podcast, so all your faithful followers who are normally following on the voice notes during our event coverage. I hope it won't be too tricky to move across to receiving the podcast daily and in this way, we hope to share the love of the Freedom Trail to a wider audience. So welcome to our first episode of Freedom Trail Podcast.I'm Julia Fisher and my husband Chris and I host the events and tours along the Freedom Trail.And today on the start line we had 45 participants lining up for race across South Africa, including six internationals and five women, quite a hot and fiery men's race as well as ladies. So Drikus Coetzee is the race favorite. He has led out from the beginning. He is going far faster than we had anticipated, and he has Willie hot on his wheel. For most of the day Willie has been about 15 minutes behind. Drikus got to Centocow at a crazy four hours 15 minutes. He went past Centocow at quarter past 12 today, didn't even pull in there, and got through to Ntsekeni at ten past four. He spent 10 minutes at Ntsekeni and is now heading out for two Springs.In the ladies race, we have the beautiful duo of Sarah Van and Ingrid Avidon riding together. They have ridden a few freedom events together. Ingrid has ridden, I think over 20 Freedom Challenge events, so she is no stranger to this trail. She loves it, and it is great to have them both, showing the men how it's done.Riders featured in this episode:Willie du Plessis - Cap 1Nic Stathoulis - Cap 23Click here to dot watch the raceFollow us on Instagram Follow us on FacebookJoin the Freedom dot watchers Facebook group Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.