WINDHOEK – The Namibian Cycling Federation (NCF) junior national team of Schalk van der Merwe, Dieter Koen and Alex Miller won bronze in the team time trial on Wednesday at the African Continental Road Championships underway in Kigali, Rwanda.
The African Continental Road Championships are a series of cycling races held annually since 2005, with the best riders of the continent selected for the competition.
This year’s championships started on Tuesday and end on 18 February.
On Wednesday morning, the Namibian junior team finished third in their team time trial event behind winners Eritrea and runner-up Rwanda with a time of 29:13,63 seconds.
Eritrea won the time trial with a time of 26:07,12, while Rwanda were 49,16 seconds behind them with a time of 26:56,28.
The senior national team consisting of Martin Freyer, Dan Craven, Lotto Petrus and Drikus Coetzee finished seventh in their team time trial event on the same day.
Speaking to Nampa on Wednesday, team captain Craven said they had a hard race on the day, but they are hopeful their fortunes will change in their remaining races.
“Martin was sick and throwing up during the race because he woke up with an upset stomach. Lotto was also struggling and by nine kilometres we lost him. After 12km Martin was not working anymore so only Drikus and I were pulling, but we still had to wait for Martin on the climbs,” he said.
Craven added that their hope of ending up on the podium faded once they realised that Martin was struggling a lot.
“Despite us finishing seventh, I am really impressed with how everyone did their best. Despite the circumstances we had, we hung on to finish the race.”
On Thursday, the only woman in the team, Vera Adrian will compete in her individual time trial, while the elite men’s team and the junior team will compete in their individual time trials and road races later in the week.
The senior male national team is made up of Martin Freyer, Xavier Papo, Dan Craven, Lotto Petrus, Fifi Kashululu and Drikus Coetzee, while the junior riders are Charl du Plooy, Schalk van der Merwe, Dieter Koen and Alex Miller.
Vera Adrian, who was crowned the 2016 African Champion in the elite women road race and time trial category, is the only female athlete representing the country at the championships. – Nampa-AFP
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