30 Oct 2022

Cycle4Life (C4L) club this weekend   showcased their last race of the year, which is  also last Mountain Bike (MTB) race in the cycling calendar.

The ever leader of the MTB space, C4L race has been attracting some of the elite riders in the country. 

However, in the last edition there was an absence of some top MTB riders such as Gontse Lethokwe, the reigning MTB champion, Thato Madimabe as well as Edwin Banyatsang owing to various reasons.

Even a newbie in the MTB space, seasoned roadie Abeng Malete, who made his debut at the Dimension Data Route73 challenge, did not make an appearance. 

Absence of these riders was caused by factors such as injuries, especially Lethokwe and Banyatsang, who have not fully recovered and failure to be released from their workplaces for some.

In an interview, C4L president, Themba Giddie indicated that the race came with less sponsorship with mostly being self-sponsorship from clubs. 

“Therefore, the prize money for our winners is less and perhaps this could be a factor of absence by some top riders,” he said.

However, he said as the club breaks and evaluate, they hope to improve the race in terms of dates and attracting elite riders even from outside the country. 

“We hope for more sponsorship to make it bigger and attract professional elite riders and have better prize money next year,” he said. 

Giddie noted that the race organisation went well except for the rain challenge. 

He said the route had black cotton soil, which when it rained became a challenge to ride. 

“People had to carry their bikes for a good 6km and some were not happy about it,” said Giddie.

Sandile Slave-Mpelo, who clocked 3:06:23 in an open 60km male race shared the sentiments that the route race was well marked, but the only challenge was the muddy part of it. 

“The route was different from other route terrains because of the rain, it was a bit heavy for us to ride, but overall it was a good race,” said the 22-year-old.

He said he walked with his bike most of the route because of the mud, and rode where there was no mud. 

Slave-Mpelo also said next year he would be challenging the current elite riders as he would be graduating from the junior category.

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Coach level 1 Gobona Mantle also said the muddy course was a difficult one. 

She said the challenge with mud was that it derailed riders’ times and also posed a challenge with bike pushing.

“When the soil gets hardened on a bike it can eventually damage it,” Mantle said.

Mantle further encouraged fellow girls to join, especially on the junior and youth categories of the MTB space. 

She encouraged clubs and coaches to push more girls and boys into the cycling sport. Ends