The Gaborone Cycling Club (GCC) will this weekend host its annual Trellidor / Aluminium 2000 Kopong Kobra weekend Festival of Cycling. The race, which is sponsored by Trellidor / Aluminium 2000, will be held in the village of Kopong on Saturday and Sunday.
This year will be the first time that the race is held over two days, with the first day being a road race while the mountain bike race is scheduled for the second day.
According to Peter Sekwale of GCC, the event is done over two days to allow people who wish to participate in both the road race and the mountain bike categories to do as such.
Sekwale says at least three races will be run each day for the two days. “On Saturday, we will start at 0800hrs in the morning with a 90 km road race, to be followed by a 50 km race and a 9 km Humber Bike race at 0815hrs and 1230hrs, respectively,” Sekwale said in an interview. “The 90 km race will take riders from Kopong Filling Station towards Molepolole main road, then back past Kopong to Lentsweletau before passing through the village of Kopong to the finish point at the filling station. The 50 km race will see riders taking off from the filling station to Lentsweletau before heading back to the finish point at the Kopong Filling station,” the GCC man added.
Concerning the 9 km Humber Bike Village ride, which is the new entrant to the race, Sekwale said its route will pass through the village and is made especially for the residents of Kopong residents.
“We want to make the residents of that village part of the race. We want them to appreciate the event and to feel part of it,” Sekwale added. He says while normal rules will apply for all races, some of the rules will not apply on the Humber bike race to allow locals to join in numbers. More fun will, however, continue on the second day when the country’s elite mountain bike cyclist take on each other during the Kobra mountain bike cycling events.
In the first event to test man and machine, cyclists will be expected to go on a gruelling 60 km race that is bound to take them up into the village’s mountains.
The event, which will start at 0800hrs in the morning, will be run over two loops of 30 km. The event will then be followed by a 30 km single loop event and then the 5 km kiddies race at 0830 hrs and 0900 hrs respectively.
Sekwale says a registration fee will be needed for all races, save for the Humber Bike village ride. Winners of all races will receive cash prizes while the best looking bicycle in the Humber Bike category will also walk away with a cash prize.
