“It is not about how many times you fall down, but how many times you get back up.”

The Tuks alumni, Dr Gustav Joyce, got to experience the true meaning of what the late USA president, Abraham Lincoln, meant when he uttered his famous words. However, it was not through choice.

The 70-year old ear nose and throat surgeon teamed up with his son, Retief, to compete in his first ever Absa Cape Epic. On Sunday he ended up being the oldest competitor this year to finish. What no statistic will ever indicate is that it literally took blood, sweat and tears for him to do so.

From the fourth stage, he got to take one tumble after another. After each crash, it got more painful to get back on his bike and continue to pedal. The worst of it happened during Sunday’s last stage which finished at the Val de Vie Lifestyle Estate, outside Paarl.

Within mere metres, Joyce went down twice in succession. After the second crash, his son worried that it could be it. Thinking his dad was going to stay down for the full count.

“He just laid there. Face down. Not moving. Somehow my dad found the strength to get up for the umpteenth time and slowly resumed cycling,” explained Retief Joyce who works at the University of Pretoria’s IT Department.

Gustav Joyce had broken a finger, and his face was all bloodied up. It is evident that he was in tremendous pain battling to be able to grip his bike’s handle properly while cycling. It slowed him down even more. That is why he encouraged his son to go on without him.

“Physically I was a broken man. On my count, I crashed on 19 occasions during the Epic. From the fourth stage, my legs were still willing, but my body went on strike. In spite of it, I was not considering to quit. I was going to finish no matter what, but I doubted if I would make the cut-off time to get my medal. It was important to me that Retief does not miss out because last year he withdrew after stage one due to a serious stomach ailment,” explained Gustav Joyce.

Retief Joyce did go on for a while on his own, but when he looked back and saw his dad slowly and painfully inching his way forward, he dropped back. This time he was not going to leave his dad. Dad and son were going to finish as a team what they started out to do.

“I really got to admire my dad over those last kilometres. Every time he went over a hobble I could hear him cringe due to the pain but still, he kept going,” explained Retief Joyce who from stage four onwards ever so often would get of his bike running while pushing his dad along with one hand and his bike with the other.

Father and son indicated finishing the Absa Cape Epic as a team is an everlasting memory. Just thinking back to all they experienced over the eight days still gets them to close to tears.

Gustav Joyce can now honestly claim as far as South Africa’s endurance events – Comrades, Two Oceans, Duzi Cano Marathon, Iron Man, Ultra Man - are concerned that he has been there, done that and got the T-shirt to prove it.

On Monday morning after his Epic ordeal, Gustav Joyce demonstrated to his family that there is still some fight left in the old body doing a few squats. However, he admits that he now realises that old age is starting to catch up with him.

“I only got one more goal left, and that is to qualify to represent South Africa at the World Xterra Championships in Hawai. I want to win my age-group world title, said the Tuks alumni.