03 Dec 2020

2020 Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) national championships will take place from December 6-20 in Rasesa and Gaborone.

The Championships is the pinnacle event in the BCA calendar, attracting Botswana’s seasoned and amateur cyclists all vying for coveted National Champion jersey. 

The nationals consist of Individual Time Trials (ITT), Team Time Trials (TTT), Road Race and Mountain Bike Race (MTB).   

All National ITT and TTT will start in Rasesa on Sunday, followed by the Road Race on December 13 and MTB race wrapping the year’s cycling activities on December 20. 

The ITT race will cover one lap each of Youth (men/women) and junior women. 

Junior men, masters and vets, and elite women will each cover two laps, while elite men will cover three laps. 

The TTT will cover one lap and two laps for women’s teams and men’s team respectively. 

All road races will be held in Rasesa covering a stretch of 130km, whilst the MTB races will cover a 90km route in Gaborone around the dumping site area. 

BCA public relations officer Game Mompe said riders had been consistent participating in local races throughout the year, and indicated therefore that they were expecting improved performance at this year’s Nationals. 

Few coaches shared their thoughts regarding the championships. 

David Lebalelo of Team Swift Cycling Club indicated that after a successful Vunani Fund Managers Series race, cyclists were well prepared to compete for the title in the nationals. 

However, he expressed concern at the inefficiency of  the teams’ development plan. 

He said more new youngsters were expected in the sport of cycling, but teams did not have any new faces, adding that the nationals would still have the same faces from last year, which he said did not give much competition among the riders. 

Jwaneng Cycling Club’s Coach Themba Matebu noted that this year’s nationals would have an improved pool of riders. 

Matebu said cyclists had improved with an amount of activities that took place during this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Furthermore, he said riders’ average speed had improved among themselves, and this will be an exciting and spectacular nationals. Ends