07 Jan 2024

As the new season begins, some cycling clubs are targeting to attract more people to cycling with the aim to revive the sport.

Two of Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) club affiliates, Tsela Riders and Cycle4Life cycling clubs chairpersons, said in an interview on Saturday that their 2024 goal was to recruit new members especially women.

“We want to go back to basics, put in place structures of development as well as women recruitment,” said Tsela Riders chairperson, Charles Vaughan. 

He said it was necessary that they looked more into child development and ensure development structures were in place. He also said they aimed to recruit women into the sport.

Furthermore, Vaughan said they needed active members in the club who would be able to compete in races. 

“As a club we stand for a development of athletes who will be able to compete as well as do social riding. We are a family structured club which encourages families to join our club,” he said.

Vaughan said the popularity of cycling had waned and therefore it was essential for them to embark on a recruitment drive.

 He said clubs needed to be active in attracting all groups into the sport. 

He appealed to BCA to be at the forefront and  to ensure that affiliated clubs put more effort into growing the sport. 

He said BCA should encourage  clubs to host at least one race in a year to make cycling sport more active as well keep riders in top shape.

Meanwhile, Cycle4Life chairperson, Modiegi Pelaelo said they were planning to encourage family membership as a way of increasing women numbers in mountain bike (MTB) discipline. 

She said as the only MTB club in the country they encouraged and promoted MTB as a way of keeping in shape especially as a family. 

“This year we will be focusing more on growing our membership base particularly women as we realised that we have less numbers in MTB compared to road cycling,” Pelaelo said.

Cycle4lfe cycling club holds its club race every year.

This year, the club intends to do things differently and better. Without revealing much, Pelaelo said they were in talks with interested parties so that they have prizes for the riders. 

“We had feedback from our members and other cyclists that our club race does not attract more riders , especially the kids, to do MTB cycling because there are no prizes for them,” she said, adding that this year their club race would be different in that regard.

The club also prides itself on hosting charity races.

“As Cycle4Life our biggest fulfilment is charity, giving to the communities in which we cycle. With a portion of proceeds from the Dimension Data Route73 race, the club every year donates something to communities,” explained Pelaelo.

She also said this year the club intended to revive the book donation drive with partners Macmillan Publishers. 

“We donate books to schools which are in the school curriculum, and last year we could not carry out the donation out but we plan to revive it this year,” she said.

Pelaelo also said they planned to assist a young person with a wheelchair. 

She said they were currently raising funds for the procurement of the wheelchair for the beneficiary and present it this year. 

“This year we want to at least have a charity ride every quarter where we give back to the community and restore the cycling sport and bring it to communities,” said Pelaelo. Ends