* Event will also highlight African Union Sports Council Regional 5 achievements, promote the sport of cycling in Malawi
* And to identify local cycling talent, raise awareness of AUSC Regional 5 as well as foster a healthy lifestyle
By Duncan Mlanjira
As part of African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Regional 5 Silver Jubilee celebrations, Malawi will host cycling Grand Prix at Gateway Mall in Lilongwe on Saturday, November 2.
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A statement from Ministry of Sports, through the Malawi National Council of Sports, says the event will also highlight AUSC Regional 5 achievements, promote the sport of cycling in Malawi, identify local cycling talent, raise awareness of AUSC Regional 5 and foster a healthy lifestyle
The statement, issued today, October 28, says the cycling Grand Prix is planned to feature over 1,000 cyclists in multiple categories and participants include elite men cyclists to cycle 100km and elite women cyclists for 50km.
Men mountain bike and kabaza riders will cycle for 50km, social riders for 20km and there will also be children’s cycling events to take place at main venue, Gateway Mall as well as featuring various acrobatic performances.
The races will commence from Gateway Mall and follow road to Mchinji through Malawi Revenue Authority and branch off Airwonf Road with a turnaround point after Kapanga Trading Centre and then back to Gateway Mall.
Top three cyclists in each category will receive monetary prizes with the elite men at K300,000 first place, K200,000 second place and K100,000 third; elite women to receive K250,000; K170,000; and K90,000 — the same for mountain bikers in first, second and third place respectively.
To take part, interested cyclists are encouraged to register through Sports Council or Cycling Federation of Malawi, whose deadline is Thursday, October 31 at 17h00.
We urge the private sector and other stakeholders to join us during this historic event,” said the statement released by Secretary for Youth & Sports, Isaac Katopola.
The event should surely amplify the Cycling Federation of Malawi, which is on the campaign to bring the sport back to its glamour.
In August, the federation received 8 sports biycles from the world sports cycling mother body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and on its Facebook page, it indicated that the support is through a solidarity programs 2024 and are racing bikes specially designed suitable for the beginners.
They include one extra extra small size road bike, one extra small size roadbike, one small size road bike, two medium size road bike, one large size road bike, one extra small size mtb, and one medium size mtb.
“The donation has come in good time as we are embarking on youth talent identification,” said the report. “These bikes will be distributed to Cycling Federation of Malawi and affiliated cycling clubs.”
In September last year, Cycling Federation of Malawi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Glasgow, Scotland with various stakeholders under UCI.
This followed the participation of Malawian cyclist Macpherson Mbeya at the UCI World Championship in Glasgow, Scotland in August last year where he was accompanied by Cycling Federation of Malawi president, Malombo Kayira — who indicated that several partnerships were established.
Kayira said the meeting highlighted how countries like Malawi could improve in cycling development and promotion of women in the sport, saying: “We want to develop a BMX track in order to develop the sport from the grassroots stage and I am glad that we came across partners such as the Scotland Malawi Partnership who want to help.”
Their trip to Glasgow was facilitated by Scotland-Malawi Partnership, a civil society network coordinating that supports and represents people-to-people links between the two nations.
The society then approached Billy Bilsland Cycles based in Glasgow, which already has a strong link with Malawi as it lent out bikes to Malawian athletes to compete in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Its manager, Neil Bilsland supported Mbeya — a developing Malawian professional cyclist who is a clinical officer from Mzimba District — with a loan of three top-of-the-range bikes in his quest to participate UCI Cycling World Championships.
Mbeya during one of his races
He supported Macpherson with a 51 Cervelo Caledonia with Ultegra; a 51cm Cervelo P3 Di2 and a Genesis Mantle HT and Mbeya was quoted as saying this was the first time in his life that he had seen, let alone used such bikes.
In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA) last year Kayira hailed Billy Bilsland Cycles for supporting Mbeya with the bikes and spare parts for all his races during the championship, which included a 51 Cervelo P3 Di2 and a Genesis Mantle HT.
“The Scotland Malawi Partnership helped us identify Billy Bilsland since travelling with own bicycles would have been expensive and it was likely that we would not pass the bike test which are conducted before the competition because our bikes are outdated.”
On his part, Mbeya said Malawi has potential to produce competitive cyclists if adequate support and equipment are rendered to the sport. He participated in the Gran Fondo road race which was 196 kilometres then the mountain bike cross country marathon (100 kilometres) and the time trial for grand fondo (22.6 kilometres).
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