27 Mar 2019

Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) will send six team members to represent the country at the 11^th Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) Mountain Bike (MTB) Continental Championships in Namibia.

The championships will run from April 12 to 14 and seven countries have already confirmed participation. The countries are Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mauritius as well as the host Namibia.

 BCA secretary general, Tlamelo Dube said in an interview that the six-team members were made up of five males and one female who would be competing in three categories. He said Gontse Molefe and Thato Madimabe would race in the  men elite category, Arnold Kokwane and Jameel Noor in the men U-23 category while Lebopo Mompe would compete in men junior. Switzerland based Bakang Ebudilwe would compete in the women elite category.

Dube said the aim was to gain more points and improve on the rankings for individuals as well as the country and qualify for Tokyo 2020. “The championships will be used as Olympic qualifiers for both individual and the country through points gained,” he said.

 The next stop after the CAC MTB Continental Championships, Dube said would be the All Africa Games in August as well as the World Championships in September.

Among the team members, Dube said they had new young cyclists, Mompe and Noor, adding that Madimabe, Molefe and Kokwane have represented the country before at international competitions. The different events the team will be competing in include the Olympic Cross country loop race, Olympic Marathon and Mixed Relay.

Dube said the association was conducting training sessions in preparation for the continental championships. He further said four of the cyclists would be going for a training camp in Namibia from April until the end of the competition. He noted that the training camp would be conducted by the World Cycling Centre Africa.

The team is expected to leave for Namibia on April 10 and return on April 15. They will be accompanied by team manager, coach and mechanic and some officials. ENDS