The Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) has sent a team of four young cyclists-two boys and two girls-on a two week training camp in Windhoek, Namibia where they will prepare for the UCI Africa Continental Championships, slated for Lesotho from 30th March to 4th April.
The team comprises of the last year’s under 23 MTB Championship silver medallist Thato Madimabe and Arnold Kokwane in the boys section; alongside Bonno Motlhetlhi of Team Jon Mol and Bakang Ebudilwe of Tsela Riders, both 21 years old in the girls team. The two girls recently returned from South Africa, where they attended another training camp at Potchefstroom high performance centre. The ICU Africa Continental Championship is considered one of the biggest cycling events in Africa and will feature cyclists from all African countries and interested international cyclists. The challenge is also used as preparation for the Africa Championships, billed for Morocco this winter.
BCA Secretary General, Tlamelo Dube said they are currently in the process of selecting a strong team that will represent the country at the continental championships.
“The level of competition in that challenge is high, so we are currently assessing a provisional list of cyclists. We don’t just want to participate, we want to compete at these events,” he said.
Dube further revealed that they intend to include at least two junior cyclists in the competition as a way of developing and empowering young riders. The team is expected back home on March 25th when they will join the rest of the squad on transit to Lesotho. BCA will host two other races as part of preparations for the continental championship; the Capital Challenge in Gaborone and the Total Cycling City, which is mainly aimed at raising awareness about cycling.
“We decided to raise awareness about cycling after one of our prominent riders; Warren February was hit by a car two months ago. The race is open to all fun, social and competitive riders across Botswana,” explained Dube.
He urged cyclists to always ride on the left side of the road, going along with traffic and not against traffic; and also to wear protective and visible clothing at all times to avoid unnecessary accidents. He further implored drivers to look out for cyclists on the road.
