Three young Batswana cyclists are back home from South Africa after taking part in a five-week training camp.
Abeng Malete of Jon Mol Cycling Club, Amogelang Thwabi and Promise Ntshele, both of Botrail Cycling Club, are part of the Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) youth development team. The came back last Wednesday.
The camp, which was held in Potchefstroom, was organised by the World Cycling Centre Africa (WCC).
The trio joined other cyclists from different parts of Africa who were selected based on their performance at their respective federations.
According to the BCA, the main aim of the training camp was to expose cyclists to international racing, as well as to develop and prepare elite women cyclists for the upcoming union cycling international (UCI) races.
The BCA further says the three are expected to use their acquired knowledge and skills learnt to improve their performance as well as to impart the experience with their fellow mates from their respective clubs.
Ntshese said she had acquired much needed experience from the training camp.
“The camp was so intensive it needed more endurance because it was totally different from the usual ones that we usually attend in Botswana,” Ntshese explained.
“It was a very demanding camp and we had to follow strict training programmes. We spent more time practicing and learning new skills,” she said
“Our instructors were very strict and monitored us closely on how and what we ate on daily basis because it is vital to have a diet schedule in order to develop healthy bodies to be in a good state for competition as athletes”
The 19-year-old said they got a chance to gauge their progress in a couple of races they took part in while in South Africa.
“I have improved a lot as compared to my previous races results. For one event last year, I clocked 4h:24min but this year I managed to cut my time to 3h:2min, which was very pleasing,” she said.
Ntshese said while at the camp, she also took part in one of the biggest race in South Africa, the Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge, which was attended by more than 3 000 cyclists from across Africa.
“I managed to scoop position 15 in my category and now I am looking forward for more of such challenges,” she added.
Karabo Moletsane of Jon Mol had accompanied the cyclists to attend Union Cycling International (UCI) accredited level 1 and 2 coaching course which aspires to provide national federations with competent coaches.
