Day: September 20, 2019

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Safire Baynesfield MTB Classic & Swadini Youth Road Tour

The top mountain riders from the KZN Cycling Development MTB HP squad took part in the Safire Baynesfield MTB Classic on Sunday 15th September and once again, they did themselves and the team proud with their performances. In the 65km race, Lihle Ngidi was again the standout rider on the day and came 2nd overall and 2nd in his age category, Unathi Nxumalo and Chad Singh also performed well in this long race. In the 45km race, Lerato Mokela and Anele Khoza performed exceptionally well to attain 2nd & 3rd places respectively in the Youth Female categories and in the 21km race, Thabiso Zindela took line honours in his age category. Apart from these standout performances, all the other riders competing did very well and these youngsters are no longer there to just make up the numbers at events and are performing fantastically well and showing real grit and determination. Their exponential growth each time they go out to race is wonderful to see.

The Swadini Youth Road Tour is taking place in Mpumalanga from 20th – 25th September and four young men from the development programme have been selected to compete in the event as part of the KZN Squad that will be competing against riders from all of the provinces across the country . Chad Singh, Smagaliso Msomi, Thabiso Shange and Banele Khanyile will be making the trip and this tour – with its concentrated racing every day – will be a huge challenge for them all but at the same time, will be a huge step up for them in their overall development and we look forward to seeing how they match up against the top young riders from across the country.

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SA National BMX Championships

For the past number of weeks, the KZN BMX Commission has been staging their BMX events that have included a Development Racing Class as part of the programme so as to allow new riders to compete at BMX races against riders of a similar level with the aim being to graduate the better riders into the open classes as they progress and develop. This plan has worked exceptionally well and more and more riders are taking part in the open classes where the aim was then to be able to development sufficiently to be able to qualify for the SA National BMX Championships that is taking place in Johannesburg from the 20th – 22nd September. It really is great to see that a total of 14 x development riders have been selected to compete at the National Championships and are being supported by KZN Cycling (with the funding supplied by KZN Department of Sport & Recreation) and will travel with the large KZN contingent to take on the best BMX riders in the country.

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KZN Spur MTB Schools Series

For the past number of months, the four leg KZN Spur MTB Schools Series has been taking place at various schools in the province culminating at the event at Thomas More College on Sunday 8th September. This series sees the top school riders from all over the province competing in a bid to accumulate enough points to qualify for the Spur National Schools MTB Finals that will take place at the end of the month in Gauteng. Hundreds of riders have been competing throughout the series and a large number of riders from KZN have qualified for the finals. This includes a good group of youngsters that have come through the KZN Cycling Development programme and due to their performances over the last weeks, six riders have qualified for the national finals. Congratulations are extended to Lihle Ngidi, Unathi Nxumalo Thabiso Zindela, Mnelisi Khomo, Lerato Mokela and Anele Khoza. It is fantastic to see the two girls qualifying and is testament to their massive improvement and efforts this year and is a huge achievement for them as well as the boys on the list.