27 Feb 2023

Tsela Riders Cycling Club’s race in Kopong on Sunday has been hailed as a success.

Some cyclists used the event to prepare for the 45th Cape Town Cycle Tour set for March 12.

This road race came within the framework of the role played by Tsela Riders to motivate the cycling community to keep training. 

“The main purpose of this race is to keep the spirit of racing and training going as we believe that it is important to keep the racing going in order to motivate cyclists to keep training,” said Tsela Riders captain, Moleko Majaha in an interview.

He said with the decline of races in the country, it was important to have such club races to encourage cyclists. He said the next club race would be in April with two more before end of the year.

This club race, Majaha noted, was also timed to allow those who would be participating at the Cape Town Cycle Tour to get the much needed training. 

“Those who will be doing the Cape Cycle Tour benefited from this race because of the timing and the terrain. 

The Kopong route is hilly and challenging and it is exactly what they needed to prepare for Cape Cycle Tour,” Majaha said, adding that although the distance was a little shorter than Cape Cycle Tour, they believed the intensity made up for the distance.

The club race did not provide prizes for the riders, however Majaha noted that he trusts that they will have a sponsor on board when they launch the quarter two race to allow prize giving. 

“We have not been able to have prizes as we did not have a sponsor, but our aim is to rectify that as we prepare for quarter two,” stated Majaha.

Meanwhile, Katlego Ditlogolo of BotRail who will be participating at the Cape Cycle Tour said in an interview that he needed to train more to prepare for the tour. 

He said with a flat terrain from his area in Mahalapye, he needed more of challenging terrains such as the Kopong route in order to fully be ready for the Cape Tour.

“The route was challenging and effective for me, but I am not yet ready for the Cape Tour. 

I need to train more on steep terrains this side to endure the Cape Tour route,” said the 17 year old.

Nevertheless, Ditlogolo has had training in South Africa in January with three enduring races, the Gauteng Championships, Midvaal The Fast One Cycle Race and the Montecasino Classico Cycling Race. 

“I was training with Nolan Hoffman and doing mainly endurances with full of intervals,” he noted. Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) secretary general, Game Mompe, acknowledged and applauded Tsela Riders for organising the race. 

She said the race would, whilst awaiting the cycling calendar due winter, help cyclists keep in shape. 

“We also encourage other clubs to organise such races as we await the calendar so to assist riders stay in form and shape,” she said. ENDs