27 Jan 2025

 Tsela Riders chairperson, Charles Vaughan has assured members that 2025 will be the best year for the club as they aim to attract sponsors and be successful in competitions.  

Speaking during the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Gaborone recently, Vaughan said they were struggling with finding sponsors though they had a podium finish during the three races they competed in 2024. 

He said they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kalahari Business Development Group to find sponsors and take the club to the people.  

Vaughn also said members had fallen behind in payment of their subscription fee over the past five years, making them lose their membership in the process.

He further said that of the 300 club members, only 77 were compliant with their subscription. 

Vaughan said they needed a database where they could keep members’ profiles, indicating their participation in races and the results thereof.

 “Remember we are athletes. We need those profiles all the time. I should be able to pull the profiles off the database and the team captain should be able to pick club representatives from there,” he noted.  

The club chairperson said members should come to the fore in the business of the club. 

He said they were aiming  to launch the club website in which they would load members’ profiles and attract sponsors by putting the club in the public domain.  

Vaughn also urged members to be mindful of negative publicity as it could tarnish the club’s image. 

Club captain, Moleko Majah said they had struggled to get back to pre-COVID training times. 

He said even those who came were not consistent and the results indicated the inconsistency. 

Also, he said those who did not undergo training were not getting the podium finish. 

The captain said they have less than three weeks for the February 16 race and urged all those who will be competing to train hard. 

He said they cleaned out the 2024 racing team as people came to be social and needed motivation. 

Majaha said that there are those who are entrusted with club bicycles and those are the people who should be serious to get podium finishes. 

“The reason you have a club bike is because we see potential in you and we think you can put our name out there. So, take it serious when you have a club bike. We expect you to give back to the club by winning or at least making it to the podium. If you don’t train, you won’t make it to the podium and we will not get our investment back,” he advised. 

He said those who train would be put into the races because they train and they will put their money on those who train.  

The captain said they had a number of podium finishes last year as they had three national champions on mountain bike and three champions on the road. 

He said they need to take mountain cycling serious as they perform well on mountain as they did on the road. 

The elective AGM put Vaughan into the office of chairperson, with Tony Sekakela as the secretary, while Naomi Sephekolo made it to the office of public relations. 

Mogi Kenaope was elected as events manager with Kao Ramahobo retaining the office of treasurer as no one was nominated for the office. 

Kutlo Majaha and Moratwa Matlhaope were endorsed for additional membership of the executive. ENDS