Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini’s gifted cyclists and national road champions Kwanele Jele and Notsikelelo Mdlovu maintained their cutting-edge to emerge victorious in the Kusekhaya Lowveld Invitational in their respective categories yesterday. This was the second last official race under the Eswatini Cycling Association (ECA) calendar of events for the year 2023, which leaves the 4Eva TreeTops 2Fast2Furious billed for November 25. Kusekhaya Cycling Club, who were the host at Mhlume Country Club, had the event participants set in motion at 7am for the 120km, which Jele conquered. The 90km set in motion next, where Mdlovu found herself leading by a wide gap in their second loop of the 90km marked course. The national champion finished the race fatigued, but with a smile across her face to attest to her enjoyment of the race.
Mdlovu, who is fresh from the Amashova race, which was in Durban mentioned that the wind was fighting against them, which in turn they had to fight back. She also revealed that flat races were not her strongest point. “Flats are not really my strong point, but I’m happy with my time. The route was flat with a few small climbs and facing the wind was hard; we had to fight it. All in all the race was okay, quite enjoyable,” expressed Mdlovu. Meanwhile, Jele, who also attended the race in Durban, cited that as the conditions worried other cyclists, he remained calm and focused as he knew that the weather could not be as bad as it was in Durban. As Jele had rightly guessed, the weather conditions were quite favourable for the cyclists as temperatures were cool with slight showers of rain at different intervals. Jele also mentioned that as he won several races, one of the things he had to start focusing on was defending his title, which he was positive about.
He also revealed that it was not the easiest of races he had attended, as he felt the presence of the other cyclists. Kwanele said the experience he has gained in the races in South Africa (SA), has given him a better theoretical advantage over the local riders. “It wasn’t an easy race because everyone was strong, but because of the experience I get outside of the country, South Africa, I am able to have a strategy to drop the riders I’m competing with. If I continue training properly as I have won a number of races, I have to defend them, which means this is not the end of the season for me,” said Jele. The different distances were structured in a way that they all eventually use one route, where the 120km participants had to ride the loop course three times. The 90km riders went around the loop twice before heading to the finish line, which was before the turn off into the Mhlume Country Club. Meanwhile, the 50km riders rode the loop once before heading to the finish line.
As much as the weather conditions were favourable based on the cool temperatures, some of the riders attested to Mdlovu’s mention of the inconveniencing factor of the wind as it slowed them down at some parts of their race. On another note, Thandeka Vilane was one of the unfortunate riders as she experienced technical problems with her bike as she was going for her final loop in the 90km. The cyclist mentioned that she was experiencing a problem with her gears, which kept her at one speed and made it hard for her to pick up the pace. One of the junior cyclists doing the 50km was also left dejected as he could not finish nor enjoy his race as he had a tyre burst. The youngster was picked up and given a lift back to the finishing point as he could no longer continue with the race. All in all, the event was a success, which featured more numbers than last year’s edition.
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