19 Oct 2026

The Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) Road Championships in Kenya will benefit the national team through enhanced experience and exposure, cycling national team coach, David Lebalelo has said.

In an interview ahead of the championships, scheduled for October 21 to 25 in Kenya, Lebalelo said the Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) was focusing on key development riders to compete at such high-level competitions in order to meet Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) standards.

He said Hope Mathiba was one of the key development riders who made the national team, alongside Junior male riders Ted Makgetho and Ontlametse Maswabi.

Lebalelo said the CAC championships would give the riders the experience and exposure needed for international cycling events.

Additionally, he said, the continental competition would broaden the debutante riders’ cycling career trajectory, as they would not only compete but gain experience from strong contenders from countries such as Eritrea, South Africa, Morocco, Namibia and Egypt.

“This continental competition represents a significant milestone in their cycling careers. Transitioning from local youth categories to Junior categories and joining the national team demonstrates that their dedication to the sport is yielding results,” he said.

For his part, Maswabi described the championships as a defining milestone.

“Just a few years ago, I was racing in the youth categories, learning the ropes locally. Now I am in the junior category and stepping up to the national team for the CAC Championships is proof that the hard work is paying off,” he said.

Maswabi said the continental race was his ultimate testing ground to understand the level of international racing, test his ability against the best juniors in Africa and build the foundation required to represent Botswana on the world stage.

He said for him, success does not hinge solely on medals, but on executing team strategies effectively, including tactically positioning in the peloton, responding to key breakaways and ensuring Team Botswana competed to the finish.

He noted that seasoned riders who have competed at the CAC championships had advised them to protect their positioning, stay calm, trust their training, maintain nutrition and ride with confidence.

Meanwhile, Mathiba said her aim was to finish the race with a personal best, ideally placing in the top ten, while Makgetho said the African championships was a crucial step towards his dream of becoming a professional cyclist in Europe.

Botswana will field a team of eight riders in all events, namely Individual Time Trials (ITT), mixed team relay, and road races. The team comprises Elite males Thabiso Mokalake, who will also serve as captain, and Abeng Malete; Under-23 male Gomolemo Kealotswe; Junior males Otlametse Maswabi and Ted Makgetho; Elite women Nonofo Maswabi and Lobopo Kono; and Junior woman Hope Mathiba.

The ITT comprises Junior men and women races of 10.2 km and 20.4 km respectively, alongside Elite women and Under-23 races of 30.6 km, and Elite men and Under-23 races of 40.8 km.

The Mixed Team Relay features Elite and Under-23 races over 40.8 km, while the premier road races include a men’s Youth race at 58.6 km, a women’s Youth race at 38.2 km, Junior races of 69.2 km for women and 120 km for men, and an Elite women’s race of 122.2 km. The Elite men and Under-23 competitors will race 175.2 km for the African Road title. ENDS