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veryone loves a power couple, and Isaac and Jess Wilkinson have something of that about them – but they’ re also deeply relatable. They may be a little crazy about bicycles, but deep down, they’ re just everyday people with a lust for life and adventure – and are willing to go and get after it. Meeting up with them on the balcony of the Cape Epic offices on Pepper Street, where they were recording the first episode of their new podcast, I got to hear more about their journeys into mountain bike stage racing, and how two people with the same surname from opposite sides of the globe fell in love in the Karoo.
BOY MEETS GIRL Their love story began in July 2024 on Isaac’ s first-ever trip to South Africa.“ Isaac came to Graaff-Reinet with Team Standert for the Road to Desolation gravel bike race,” recalls Jess Wilkinson.“ I was also racing it, staying next door to Isaac. As I got back from a warm-up ride, I stepped onto the pavement, and Isaac stepped out of the car, and I was immediately drawn to him. But, at that time, I was dressed in the exact same kit as my friend, Alex Bester, and Isaac thought that Alex and I were dating, so he thought it was a no-go moment.”
Isaac Wilkinson and his bleached blond hair hail from a cold and damp island affectionately known as Great Britain. Stockport, Manchester, to be exact. He’ d been racing road and gravel bikes for several years before his fateful trip to the Karoo. He fell in love fast and hard with both South Africa and a fellow Wilkinson; his whole world shifting because of a decision to enter a gravel race in a country that hadn’ t even been on his radar until that year.
Jess grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and started dabbling in bicycles in 2019, inspired by her dad’ s multiple Absa Cape Epic finishes between 2010 and 2014. She’ d already had a few stage races under her belt by the time she met Manchester’ s finest, including the 2024 Absa Cape Epic alongside her good friend Rebecca van Huyssteen.
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A week after their Karoo rendezvous, the pair met up again on a group ride in Cape Town. Sparks flew, but Isaac would be leaving the country soon. He promised to meet up with Jess again in August, when she was in Europe to race the Swiss Epic – and he made good on that promise. Then in November he came back to South Africa to race the FNB Wines2Whales with Jess – and they’ ve been Team Wilkinson Wilkinson ever since.
AN EPIC PROPOSAL Isaac would soon learn that you can’ t hang around mountain bikers in South Africa for very long before the Absa Cape Epic enters the conversation. For Jess, having seen her dad take on the brutal eight-day event several times while she was growing up, her Epic story was already a few chapters deep.“ It was something that I never imagined I could do but always wanted to try to achieve,” she says. When sharing with friends that she’ d like to ride Wines2Whales someday, she was met with suggestions to“ aim a little lower” – and if there’ s one thing you’ ll learn about Jess it’ s that, in her words,“ as soon as someone tells me‘ you can’ t do that’, it drives me more to get to the start line and to finish something.”
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Isaac’ s motivations aren’ t far from that either.“ I guess what inspired me to take on the Cape Epic is that I was stepping into a bit of an unknown,” he shares. Having only just transitioned into mountain-biking, it was the challenge of this formidable stage race that really spoke to him.
“ To be able to transition over to a different sport and be thrown in the deep end and have to pick up those skills quickly is fun. It’ s a challenge, an adventure. I think everybody should at least try and give themselves the goal of it. It’ s excellent.”
2025 was their first Cape Epic together, and Isaac’ s first-ever. They set themselves the goal of placing in the top 10 of the competitive Mixed Category and went after it with all that they had, but Isaac had an extra little surprise up his sleeve.
“ HIS WHOLE WORLD SHIFTED BECAUSE OF A DECISION TO ENTER A GRAVEL RACE IN A COUNTRY THAT HADN’ T EVEN BEEN ON HIS RADAR UNTIL THAT YEAR”
“ I originally had the idea to propose to you when you asked,‘ Would you like to do Cape Epic with me this year?’” Isaac confessed to Jess.“ I knew straight away, there’ s no other place I can think of [ to propose ] because we met at a bike race.” His bold decision to drop the knee on the finish line of the Grand Finale was set in stone, so even the messy race conditions that marked that day weren’ t going to stop him.
“ It was actually my hardest day on the bike,” Jess admits. Even with the stage being shortened due to heavy and persistent rainfall overnight, the fatigue from the past seven days had taken its toll.
Isaac was already in tears before the start of the stage, but Jess was none the wiser to the bigger plan being orchestrated around her. The two saddled up and set off into the tempest. Jess fought through her own tears on the bike, still unaware of the moment
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the untamed african mtb race | MTB | 31 |