End of Year Update
It has been a very busy period of the year in the development programme these past months. In October alone there have been 112 scheduled clinics held which 4742 children attended and this far more than 23 000 children having come through the development programme this year. As well as clinics, there have also been capacity building courses that have been held this last month with coaching, mechanics, officiating, event management and safety and security courses held. There has also been marshal training courses which has resulted in 230 new marshals being trained. Several district races have also been held across the whole province which allows the children to practice and show the new skills that they have learnt over the last couple of months and to also allow the children to have some friendly competition against their peers. As this year draws to a close and children start going on holiday so the schedule starts to slow down, and we can begin preparations in order to start in January again with a bang.
A Busy Events Schedule
It’s been a busy few weeks for the development programme with riders competing all over the country in a variety of events and activities. The BMX National Series rounds 9 & 10 as well as the National BMX Championships was staged in Gauteng on the 21st & 22nd September and KZN sent through a large contingent of riders including 14 x riders that have progressed through the KZN Cycling Development programme. The smaller size of berms and jumps lent itself to being better suited to younger riders however made the Elite races no less exciting and the KZN team achieved some excellent results with a few outstanding performances. Following in his big brother’s footsteps with a clear natural talent for riding bicycles, Mongezi Madida who is the younger brother of Manqoba managed to achieve an SA 4 placing in the final which as a novice rider who only started riding BMX this year and racing in the Expert Class, was a fantastic achievement. Wandile Mbili from Ilembe also achieved an excellent result considering this was his first national event winning through to the finals and attaining a SA7 number. Tyler Thompson managed to retain his SA 1 title with clinical racing from start to finish and other good results from the development group came from Tate Barnard – SA3, Mvelo Ntombela – SA6, Sphelele Ntombela – SA7, Mongezi Madida – SA4, Anele Ndlovu SA3, Logan Lambert SA6, Manasseh Meintkies SA6, Jordan Smallbone SA6, Zaid Stofberg SA3 and Sisanda Ngcobo SA3. The Hi Q Hoedspruit Youth Festival took place at the Swadini Resort in Limpopo from 22nd – 25th September with a large KZN squad of junior riders that took part to compete against riders from all of the provinces across the country. The event consists of a mountain bike race, road race, hill climb, individual time-trial and criterium with points being accrued by all the riders throughout and allocated to the overall points to determine the winning teams at the end of the competition. Part of this year’s KZN team were four young men from the development programme that were selected to compete in the event, these being Chad Singh, Smagaliso Msomi, Thabiso Shange and Banele Khanyile . Apart from the excellent performance of the KZN squad as a whole, the youngsters from the development squad rode extremely well and contributed along with all others to the dominance of the KZN team at the event. As the competition progressed, and as they got used to the conditions and the type of competitions each day, the young boys got stronger and stronger and started finishing higher up the results sheets which is good to see. The KZN team won the event overall dominating the score sheets racking up a total of 316 points to take the title with Gauteng a very distant 2nd place with 139 points and Mpumalanga in 3rd with 135 points. Six young riders from the programme qualified for the national finals of the Spur Schools Series and Lihle Ngidi, Unathi Nxumalo Thabiso Zindela, Mnelisi Khomo, Lerato Mokela and Anele Khoza made the trip to the event. 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, especially Mnelisi who has given his all at every event. They all rode well with varying success at the event and did not disappoint on look out of place at all against the best school riders in the country. While all the events were going on, the work of the development district officers continued this month and another 86 x training clinics were held across the country with another 4 144 learners being included in the programme. To date, a total of 18 166 youngsters have been through the clinics programme which is great news.
BMX National Series & National BMX Championships
The BMX National Series rounds 9 & 10 as well as the National BMX Championships was hosted by the Cradle BMX club in Gauteng on the 21st & 22nd September. KZN sent through a large contingent of riders including 14 x riders that have progressed through the KZN Cycling Development programme. This trip made for an exciting adventure for many of the youngsters involved with the track venue being situated in the Rhino & Lion Reserve and gave the riders and spectators alike a unique experience of racing BMX while in view of a variety of African wildlife. The track and facility was in excellent condition which made for exciting racing over the weekend. The smaller size of berms and jumps lent itself to being better suited to younger riders however made the Elite races no less exciting and the KZN team achieved some excellent results with a few outstanding performances. Manqoba Madida won a thrilling final on Saturday for the National Age Group Series but was unlucky to finish 4th in SA Championships race on Sunday after a small mistake in the final despite winning all his qualifying races preceding the final. Following in his brother’s footsteps with a clear natural talent for riding bicycles, Mongezi Madida who is the younger brother of Manqoba managed to achieve an SA 4 placing in the final. To put things in perspective, he is a novice rider who only started riding BMX this year and raced against the Expert Class and well-seasoned riders who have been racing for years. All things considered, it was an amazing result and is an exciting prospect that has been unearthed and we look forward to seeing if he match and possibly better his big brother’s progress on the international scene. Wandile Mbili from Ilembe also achieved an excellent result considering this was his first national event (and first trip out of the Province actually) winning through to the finals and attaining a SA7 number. Tyler Thompson managed to retain his SA 1 title with clinical racing from start to finish. All in all, the KZN team performed exceptionally well throughout and it is extremely pleasing to see the young riders that have progressed through the development programme achieving some exceptional results with ten riders winning through to the finals and being awarded SA numbers. The full honours list is below. Tate Barnard – SA3 Mvelo Ntombela – SA6 Sphelele Ntombela – SA7 Mongezi Madida SA4 Anele Ndlovu SA3 Logan Lambert SA6 Manasseh Meintkies SA6 Jordan Smallbone SA6 Zaid Stofberg SA3 Sisanda Ngcobo SA3 Wandile Mbili SA7 Tyler Thomson SA1 Dylan Eggar Elite 2 Manqoba Madida – Elite 4 Hannah Stieble – SA4 Connor Terblanche Jnr Elite 5
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.
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.
