28 Jul 2019

South Africa’s cyclist, Nolan Hoffman is the Dimension Data Route73 mountain bike challenge overall prize winner.

Hoffman finished the 73km elite category at 3:27:39 winning P5 000 and overall prize of P17 500 pocketing P22 500 in total.  

The race, which was held in Booka on July 27, also saw the under 23 category winner, Arnold Kokwane being crowned the first local cyclist to reach the finishing line and pocketing P7 500 for his effort to add to the  P2 500 he won for the under 23 category.

He finished the race with a time of 3:30:00.

Meanwhile, Hoffman, who was consistent throughout the 73km tough terrain, described the race as a rude awakening for him as a first time mountain bike rider in Botswana.

“The terrain was the most challenging as I have not raced for so long on such a ragged terrain,” stated Hoffman further describing the race as the toughest route and purest mountain bike race in the Botswana cycling calendar.

He said he was happy that he managed to negotiate all challenging descends on the route.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Kokwane of Jonmol Cycling club in Ramotswa was content in the front bunch and kept a close with the rest. However, he got dropped with some of his team by Hoffman leaving them for a good 10km.

Kokwane eventually caught up with the leading cyclists before passing them on a climb.

“With 30km to go on the race, I gained confidence and went as hard as I could to the finish line,” he said.

The 73km junior winner, Lobopo Mompe described the race as intense.

Mompe finished the race at 3:38:23 pocketing P2 500.

First time doing the 73km, Lobopo had competed in the 50km category in the past.

A mountain bike national champion, Mompe went hard on the hills maintaining proper speed to avoid cramping before the climbs.

“It was tough and at some point I wanted to stop as I could feel my muscles buzzing,” said Mompe adding that with the two new climbs to the course, he took it slightly easy on the up hills and harder on the down hills and had a constant smooth speed on the flats.

Dimension Data Route 73 mountain bike challenge is hosted annually by Cycle4Life cycling club in partnership with Dimension Data. Ends