{"id":78532,"date":"2024-10-10T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T11:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream"},"modified":"2024-10-10T11:44:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T11:44:00","slug":"hinz-reaches-cycling-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream","title":{"rendered":"Hinz reaches cycling dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Barely 10 years after starting to cycle, Melissa Hinz yesterday reached the pinnacle when she won a bronze medal at the Africa Continental Championships in Eldoret, Kenya.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Competing in the women\u2019s elite individual time trial, Hinz won the bronze medal after completing the 22,5km course in 33 minutes, 38 seconds, at an average speed of 40,13km\/h.<\/p>\n<p>Lucy Young of South Africa won the gold medal in 31:32, while her compatriot Ashleigh Moolman won silver in 32:04. Hinz pipped fourth-placed Lucie De Marigny-Lagesse of Mauritius by 21 seconds to the bronze medal.<\/p>\n<p>Hinz yesterday told The Namibian she was emotional but elated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m quite emotional now and I\u2019m really happy that I decided to come to the African Champs. The dates came out so late that I almost didn\u2019t come but I knew I had to chase my dream to try and medal at the Africa Champs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m one of the older riders, so I was hoping to get a medal and I knew that I stood a better chance of getting a medal in the individual time trial than I do in the road race, so I just gave it my best. It means a lot to me because this is my last year as an elite cyclist and I\u2019ll be moving into another age category next year,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Hinz said the she had to sacrifice a lot to reach her dream.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had to sacrifice a lot in terms of family time \u2013 it makes me quite emotional because they sit at home and always wait for me to finish riding my bike. But my son is in Grade 1 now, so I want to spend more time with my family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, being on the roads in Namibia is quite dangerous, and you always put your life at risk on the tar roads, so I\u2019ll be focusing more on mountain-bike racing and gravel road riding next year,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Melissa Hinz poses with her silver medal at the Africa Continental Cycling Championships. Photo: Contributed<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not easy being a mum and juggling riding as an elite cyclist, and travelling and everything, and then still to get a medal as well. I think it takes a lot of grit and self-belief to chase your dreams,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Hinz\u2019 achievement is all the more remarkable bearing in mind that she started cycling less than 10 years ago, and she\u2019s one of the oldest cyclists in the field at the age of 39.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never dreamt of coming this far in such a short time. I only got a bike when I was 30 years old, when my husband bought my very first bike for me. I started off as a triathlete and only transitioned to pure cycling four years ago, so I\u2019m very proud to have won a medal in such a short time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Hinz will also compete in the Elite Women\u2019s road race on Saturday, but was not too optimistic about her chances of winning another medal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe route doesn\u2019t suit me, it\u2019s quite hilly and a climber\u2019s route, but I will give it my very best. Then I\u2019ll be flying home on Sunday to reunite with my family, and aim to enjoy cycling in a different way \u2013 I think there\u2019s a time for everything,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\">Namibia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Barely 10 years after starting to cycle, Melissa Hinz yesterday reached the pinnacle when she won a bronze medal at the Africa Continental Championships in Eldoret, Kenya. Competing in the women\u2019s elite individual time trial, Hinz won the bronze medal after completing the 22,5km course in 33 minutes, 38 seconds, at an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-78532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hinz reaches cycling dream - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hinz reaches cycling dream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Barely 10 years after starting to cycle, Melissa Hinz yesterday reached the pinnacle when she won a bronze medal at the Africa Continental Championships in Eldoret, Kenya. Competing in the women\u2019s elite individual time trial, Hinz won the bronze medal after completing the 22,5km course in 33 minutes, 38 seconds, at an [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-10T11:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Hinz reaches cycling dream\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-10T11:44:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\"},\"wordCount\":576,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/10\/Hazrati1728548052.373687.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/hinz-reaches-cycling-dream\",\"name\":\"Hinz reaches cycling dream - 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Barely 10 years after starting to cycle, Melissa Hinz yesterday reached the pinnacle when she won a bronze medal at the Africa Continental Championships in Eldoret, Kenya. 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