Cycling – the ‘new golf’

CYCLING as a sport and as a pastime has grown tremendously in Namibia over the past decade as well as all over the world.

Many people have started calling it ‘the new golf’ in the sense that it is overtaking golf as the leading sport where business people meet and network, while cycling events, sponsorships and the number of competitors has also grown steadily.

The Namibian Cycling Federation recently released its cycling calendar for next year and it is once again stacked with road race and mountain bike events throughout the year.

Nearly every weekend is taken up with some event while there are also numerous events in South Africa that also attract Namibian cyclists like the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, the Cape Epic, the Tour de Boland and the Wheels to Whales tour.

Sponsorships have grown steadily and there are now numerous companies supporting cycling, including Nedbank Namibia, FNB Namibia, The Namibian, Pick and Pay, Cymot, Hollard and Kia.

Nedbank Namibia is the biggest supporter of cycling in Namibia, with its annual sponsorships amounting to ‘several million dollars’ according to spokesman Gernot de Klerk.

It has been sponsoring the Nedbank Cycle Challenge for 30 years, but has expanded its activities to include other projects in recent years.

In 2013 it sponsored the national cycling team to compete in the African Cycling Championships while it also sponsors the Physically Active Youth development cycling team. This year it took over the sponsorship of the Windhoek Pedal Power cycling series as well as the Rock and Rut mountain bike series, while it also came on board as the official sponsor of the Desert Dash ultra marathon between Windhoek and Swakopmund.

De Klerk said their commitment to cycling stemmed from a number of facts, including historical links, cycling’s growing popularity, its family appeal, the NCF’s sound administration and Namibia’s success in the sport.

“Cycling is our major sporting affinity because we have a 30-year involvement through the Nedbank Cycle Challenge. But in recent years the mountain biking franchise has evolved a lot and now the Nedbank MTB Challenge has its own identity. Cycling, and especially mounting biking, has become a sport for the whole family,” he said.

“It’s also becoming more popular worldwide while African cycling is on the rise. If we look at the success of our own cyclists abroad like Till Drobisch and Dan Craven, who participated in a grand tour for the first time last year – that’s a massive step forward for Namibian cycling. The organisation and administration by volunteers in the NCF is also very good and that all gives a complete picture of why we are supporting cycling,” he added.

De Klerk said their two main events in the year – the Nedbank Challenge and the Desert Dash both have sponsorships of more than N$1 million, while their aim was to ‘revolutionise corporate support’ to cycling.

“It’s about making sure that the cyclists have a singular experience and we like to treat them like royalty. The main expenses go towards hosting the cyclists, and besides the medals and prize money, we have tents, massages and refreshments on the day of the event,” he said.

The president of the NCF Mannie Heymans said cycling was growing worldwide and Namibia was following the trend.

“Cycling has grown globally and Namibia is also following the global trend.

Cycling has become the new golf – in the past a lot of businesses used to network in golf but that’s now also happening in cycling,” he said.

“The prize money has also increased a lot over the past few years and the top cyclists now can nearly make a living out of it,” he added.

According to Heymans the number of events on the Namibian cycling calendar have grown so much that they are looking at reducing them to maintain high standards and quality at their events.

“The number of events have grown a lot, and in fact there are now too many.

We are actually busy putting structures in place to maintain the quality of cycling events. It doesn’t help to have 40 events a year and only about 10 are quality events – we are looking at reducing it to about 25 quality events. We are busy compiling a minimum requirements document, so events will have to be sanctioned by the NCF,” he said.

“Too much of a good thing is not good anymore. We are burning the cyclists out and it doesn’t help if they just give 60 per cent at these races. In future event organisers will have to implement guidelines at their races. For instance often you don’t find sufficient route markings or the timing system doesn’t work, and these things are giving a bad name to cycling,” he added.

Heymans, who owns a bicycle shop in Windhoek, said business had increased over the past few years but the competition was strong.

“There are five bicycle shops in Windhoek and although business has increased, you can’t stand still, you have to earn your bread,” he said.

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