The African Mountain Bike Championships kicked off today with the junior competitions for both the boys and girls categories.
The two-day event which is taking place in the Northern Province district of Musanze saw 10 riders from six different countries competing in the boy’s category. The riders are from Rwanda, Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
The mountain bike race kicked off at 9am with the riders racing on a 6km track, 4 laps for the boys, making it 24km and 3 laps for the girls, a distance of 18Km.
In the Junior Men’s field, Namibia’s DE LANGE Tristan emerged the winner after conquering the track using 01h05’42’’.
Rwanda’s Mugisha Samuel, who competed in the Mountain Bike championships for the first time, finished 4th, recording 01h15’13’’ on the clock.
Two riders Haddon Thomas from Zimbabwe and Kiprop Kibiwott Evans from Kenya were disqualified after they were overlapped by the leader of the race.
The Junior Women’s field saw two girls from Zimbabwe competing with DAVIDSON Skye finishing ahead of countrymate HYSLOP Stacey who finished second and last.
Tomorrow Sunday, May 10,riders will compete in three categories,Elite Men (42km),Men U-23 (36km) and Elite Women (30 km).The Elite Women start the racing at 09:00, followed by the Elite Men and Men U-23 at 11:00.
The Elite Men and Women racers will be vying to secure precious qualification points for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
It is the first time Rwanda has hosted the African Mountain Bike championship, though it’s the second time Rwanda has hosted a continental cycling event, having hosted the African Road Bike challenge in 2010.