04 Jul 2022

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) will send two riders to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8.

They will compete in the three cycling disciplines.

The duo; Matlhogonolo Botlhole and Gontse Lethokwe, will compete across Road Race, Individual Time Trial (ITT) and Mountain Bike (MTB).

Botlhole will be doing road race and ITT in the Under 23 category, whilst Lethokwe will do the road race and MTB in the Elite category. They will be accompanied by coach/manager David Lebalelo and mechanic Thapelo Motlhankanyane.

In an interview, David Lebalelo said they had engaged the cyclists on an intensive training programme to ready for the games.

“Since they will be doing two events, we put them on rigorous training with Botlhole doing a 35km lap for ITT on the Kanye route and Lethokwe on 40km MTB off-road training,” he said.

He said they had an idea of the route, which the cyclists will be using and the distances they did were similar to the route distances.

“As for the road race, they will be doing a 160km route race, hence an endurance training ride,” he said, explaining that the endurance training ride had five sprint intervals of 20 seconds, which will prepare the cyclists for the event.

Although they are not familiar with the England terrains, Lebalelo said the MTB Africa Championships in Namibia and the South Africa National XCO Cup number four in South Africa, which Lethokwe did, put him in good stead to be familiar with the terrain at the Commonwealth Games. He said for the road race, they would have to see the profile and establish the climbs.

Botlhole reportedly had a good training preparation at the World Cycling Centre in Cape Town, before proceeding to the Africa Road Cycling championships in Egypt in April.

Lebalelo said they would leave for training camp in Wales before proceeding to Birmingham.

“We will be establishing the courses in Wales for our training, which are similar to those in Birmingham,” he said.

Lebalelo said the Commonwealth Games, which get underway just a week after the end of Tour de France, will be a big stage, but they would not be deterred.

He further said the experience and exposure would assist in building and developing the cycling sport in Botswana.

“We are in a motion building and transition and we are determined to build cycling in Botswana,” said Lebalelo.

He said it was also important for them to follow good cycling nutrition for better results.

“We are getting abundance support from BNSC and we are grateful for the resources availed to us for these games,” said Lebalelo, adding that they were doing all they could for the riders to have a good nutritional diet, right from home and their teams to give them the support they need.

He also said they were preparing the boys psychologically as they will be meeting and competing with experienced and confident riders.

He said together with the psychologist and physiotherapist availed, they advise their riders to mingle and connect with other riders as that will help them relax as they start the races.

“We are not only going there to compete at the Commonwealth Games, but to build relations with other cyclists, other organisations and teams, which we hope and believe will assist us in developing our cycling sport as a country,” Lebalelo said.

Team Botswana leaves for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on July 10 and will be composed of athletes from eight National Federations of Cycling, Athletics, Boxing, Judo, Lawn Bowls, Squash, Swimming and Weightlifting. ENDS