21 Apr 2022

Top mountain bike riders will battle it out for the continental African Mountain Bike (MTB) Championships scheduled for IJG Trails at Farm Windhoek Namibia tomorrow.

Over 100 MTB riders from Africa will compete in the Cross Country Olympic (XCO) discipline in the elite, U-23 and junior categories under the auspices of the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) and the International Cycling Federation (UCI).

Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) has sent three riders, who will be competing on the elite and junior categories.

They are: Gontse Lethokwe of Team Swift and Thato Madimabe of Gaborone Cycling Club for elite men while Katlo Ramahobo of Tsela Riders club will compete in the junior category.

Lethokwe and Madimabe have dominated the Elite Men’s MTB racing in Botswana and often ride as partners.

Lethokwe has been reigning MTB favourite champion to date with Madimabe coming second. Lethokwe and Madimabe expect strong competition from several African riders including South Africa’s Alan Hatherly, who is ranked sixth in the world.

However, the two are confident and ready to take on any competition. “The best thing is to position myself at the start so that by the time we reach the single tracks, I am in a better position to follow whatever move Hatherly takes or makes,” said Lethokwe.

He said Hatherly is stronger on technical and will capitalise more on single tracks, while h and Madimabe will be riding as a team and supporting each other on the route.

Lethokwe said their mission was to compete at these Africa MTB Championships and not participate. National Coach David Lebalelo expressed confidence on his boys, saying although the Africa MTB Championships are a preparation for the Commonwealth Games, his target is to finish in the Top 10.

He applauded Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) and BCA for the support and ensuring that this time the team have necessary officials during the competitions. “We have a team mechanic to make sure all the bikes are in good status before and during the race,” he said.

Despite not having enough time to prepare and train well for this event, Lebalelo said the boys have been following their training programmes with their respective clubs. “These are all experienced riders who have done well in the past National MTBs and their performance is outstanding,” noted Lebalelo.

BCA President, Mmetla Masire said this event will help the riders as they will get good competition in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. He also said riders should not treat the competition only as a preparatory event, but ‘as a serious event that has medals to be fought for’.

“We have confidence in our boys and the lack of races should not disadvantage them,” said Masire, on the lack of competitive races locally.

President of CAC, Dr Mohamed Wagih Azzam noted in a press statement that the CAC African MTB championships is a superb opportunity for the talented athletes from different countries to gather, compete and share their experiences. He said although COVID-19 was a big challenge to the cycling family the world over, ‘the cycling sport in Africa has taken vast leaps in its variant disciplines over the past years, thanks to the enormous efforts being made all over the continent.’ ENDS