26 Mar 2019

Setobetobe Cycling Club in Francistown has appealed for financial support from potential donors to help promote cycling as a sport.

Formed in 2015 by a group of cyclists, the club’s chairperson, Pako Lenkopane said in an interview that their dream was to revive cycling in Francistown and surrounding areas.

The cycling club is affiliated to Botswana Cycling Club.

The club prides itself with 35 members, mostly youth. He said it showed progress as it was aligned to their main objectives.

“We want to groom young people to take cycling as a profession, and make them realise the potential of cycling if pursued as a profession,” he said.

Regarding challenges, Lenkopane cited lack of sponsors to make their noble aims a success.

He explained that the necessary equipment such as professional bicycles were expensive.

“We provide training to both road and off-road cycling, a decent bike costs at least P15 000, a figure which can be steep for most people, excluding maintenance and bicycle parts,” he said.

Lenkopane said there was also need to host more cycling events in Francistown to attract potential cyclists.

He noted that although cycling was taken as a recreational activity, it was not foreign to residents as they used bicycles as a mode of transport.

He said seeing people ride on a ‘hamba’ bicycle in rural areas was a typical sight.

“We face multiple challenges, one being to convince people that cycling is something that one can make a living out of,” he said.

To achieve this, he said financial support from the business community was needed as talent was available and only required nurturing.

He also appealed to both potential cyclists and sponsors to come forward and make Setobetobe a household club.

For her part, the club’s treasurer, Basetsana Keeme, a former long distance athlete turned cyclist, said there was talent in Francistown which needed to be unearthed.

As the co-founder of the club, she revealed that they were still struggling to lure women to the sport. To date, they have four women, she added.

She said their dream was to have their cyclists participating in international events such as the De Tour France.

Keeme has participated in major races where she won a bronze at 80km BCA national cycling race, bronze medallist at Karowe 120 km, and she  emerged at second position at Yarona cycle challenge.

As a cyclist, Keeme said her greatest aspiration was to attract more women to join sports, particularly cycling. ENDS