UWCT Masters World Championships 2012

Finish line. First the SA flag, then Mozambique! Probably our greatest achievement in terms of exposure.  The organisers made a big deal about our entry, and all things considered, for a country with a cycling population numbering in the 20s or 30s, to have 3 riders participating is an achievement.
NB - When I say cycling pop of 20-30, I am referring to the Amateur cyclists for fun. Mozambique uses bicycles as a form of transport and there are probably several million users, especially in the rural areas.  However the transition from bicycle as method of transport to bicycle as a recreational vehicle is very slow.

The finishing straight lined with flags of countries participating.  The organisers put on a good show, although spectators were thin on the ground.  I had a chat with CSA President William Newman and one of his challenges is raising awareness of the sport, and drumming up spectators to support the events.

Finishing is a victory!

Winner of the Women's 35-39 age-group. Lynnette Burger

Sprint finish!!

Lars Noren after his 96km race.  His race took place amid howling winds and 38 degree weather, so we didn't press him for too many comments after the race.

William Kelly, also shattered after a really tough day in the office!  He was in Andrew McClean's group.. so a tough bunch to race with.

My start number!

The calm before the storm... Team Mozambique relaxing cyclist style, with legs up.

The view of the finish from the rider's perspective

Team Mozambique in the 40-44 age category after their race.  Smiles as the pain is over

Miguel Duarte together with 30-34 agegroup podium finisher Jaco Ferreira

Which jersey do you like more?

Ahem.. delete this picture!!


Here are some articles on the race that you might find interesting:

Italy dominates final day of UWCT Finals

Double Gold for Burger

Second day of racing

Time trials and tribulations

Photos by: Mario Traversi, Miguel Duarte and Carlos Sales

The UCI World Cycling Tour starts today, Thursday 23rd of August, with a 25.6km Time Trial event.  For results, please click here.  The Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique has one rider participating in the time trial event, Lars Noren, of Swedish extraction and who has animated our local Copa Ciclismo scene, beating many younger riders and reaching the podium on multiple occasions.  He will be racing in the 60-64 age bracket and he is the last one of his age group to start (start-time at 10:59am today) - so he will be at an advantage with respect to the other riders and will hopefully be able to gain time on them in the technical time trial.


Below are profiles on the riders who are taking part in the Finals:

Miguel Duarte - 30-34 age-group.  He will be particiating in the 112km road race which starts on Sunday.  His start group contains a strong South African contingent as well as several Swazi riders that have participated in the Copa events in the past.  One rider to watch out in his group is Jaco Ferreira, winner of the Panorama Tour earlier this year together with racing partner Nico Bell.  AS for Miguel, he is current Mozambique Road champion and winner of the overall 2011 Copa Ciclismo, as well as numerous races including our most famous race, the Twin Peaks Classic.  He has been training in Portugal and came 4th in his agegroup in the 2011 UWCT qualifying event, but was unable to participate due to date clash with the African Games, where he represented his country.

 

Carlos Sales and Miguel Duarte during a training session in Namaacha

Carlos Sales - 40-44 age-group.  Carlos will also be participating in the 112km road race but in a separate start group to Miguel, leaving 10 minutes later.  His start group also contains a strong SA contingent, just over half the riders, including the likes of Stefano Madies, winner of the Msunduzi qualifying event in this agegroup, as well as Tinus Scheepers, of Lowveld Tour podium fame. There is also a strong Australian and Italian presence in this peleton, with 5 riders apiece.  Carlos' past achievements include a stunning solo victory at the 2007 Twin Peaks with a record that stands to this day, and a very strong track record in this year's Copa and FMC circuit races, reaching the podium in most of his starts.  His excellent performance in the Jock saw him reach 2nd overall in his start-group and setting the best overall Mozambican time for that race (adjusted for slightly different race distances of the years).

 

Mario Traversi, Miguel Duarte and Kinha Fonseca, podium for the 2010 Twin Peaks.  Kinha was unable to participate in the UWCT Final due to a motorbike accident, although he is fine now.

Mario Traversi - 40-44 age-group. For those of you new to this blog, this is me!  Also participating in the same group as Carlos, in the 112km distance.  This will certainly be a tough group.  Mario's past achievements include 2010 Copa Ciclismo overall champion as well as sprinter's jersey and polka-dot jersey, and 7 Copa victories overall (including 2 over Miguel, our current Champion).  His last Argus event saw him miss a sub-3 hour by 2 agonising minutes, but still, one of the best overall club times for that race.  Victories of note are the Hell of the South Race, our own version of Paris Roubaix, raced over the Moamba potholes, although a podium position in the Twin Peaks indicates potential for climbing. This current season though has not been kind to him, so the UWCT is a final chance to redeem himself.

Lars Noren receiving medal from Adamo Akuji (Father of Imran Akuji, Club president who passed away)
 
Lars Noren - 60-64 age group.  Lars will be taking part in the 96km distance to be held on Saturday 25th of August.  He has travelled from Sweden to take part in this race, where he recently came 3rd in his age-group in his National Championships, which means that he is participating in this race as a Swedish federated rider and not as a Mozambican.  No matter Lars, we know you're one of ours!  Up until April he was part of the Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique and has reached the podium in several criterium events as well as longer racers.  Much feared within our own peleton for his no-holds-barred attacking style, he will be a force to be reckoned with in his race on saturday.  Still, he faces a tough group with again, a strong SA contingent including Christiaan Rossouw, winner of the 2012 Panorama Tour in his agegroup. 

Profile of the 112km race, which has 1350m of climbing.  The race is quite similar to the Argus in terms of distances and total climbing, except that it doesn't take part at sea level!

Forecast for race-day.  Lars will have a tough time of it with 34 degrees and a 1pm start for the road race, but his training in Mozambique should be adequate to master the heat.  Sunday's race however starts off cold and doesn't warm up much, so will be ideal racing conditions.

African Games.. an old e-mail

Today (yesterday) we saw the first of three cycling events of the All African Games.  From the various comments on the net, newspapers, and word of mouth, angry phonecalls, rude gestures by motorists, slap on the back etc.. there are two ways of looking at the event:

One - The event was a disaster. It started late, people were massively inconvenienced due to the road closures that started from 7:30 onwards, and the event finished at around 3pm, much later than predicted which meant many people missed their lunch.  Some had to walk to work. Some even had to sit and watch the race while sitting in their cars.. And what's more, the Mozambique team didn't win any medals!

or...

Two - we had a first class international level cycling event for the first time in Mozambique.  The racing was competitive, with no accidents.  Police support was excellent ensuring full road closure. Crowd support was excellent with people cheering every time the Mozambican cyclists went around the course, and many youngsters will have had their first taste of cycling.  Many people who won't be able to see any of the Africa Games events because they either don't have money for the tickets or because they don't have time to go, were treated to the event.  The Mozambique team participated in the event, completed the course and did not come last.  Notwithstanding a flat tyre, Zeca came 31st and Miguel came 26th overall, against a strong African field, gaining valuable experience for future races.  We did NOT have to cancel the race because of cars on the course (as happened in the Tour of South Africa earlier this year).

It all comes down to how we want to view the event.  How do I personally feel about it?  I think we've learn't a lot.  I think the next event will be better.  And I believe that it was a success.

Cheers,


NB - This e-mail was sent out last year in September shortly after the Time Trial event that paralysed Maputo.  There was a lot of negative publicity at the time, with many newspapers showing motorists trapped in their cars held in check by intransigent traffic police.  Some motorists even abandoned their cars.  However, as my post shows above, there are always two sides to the story.  The current criterium races organised by the FMC are in fact managing to stage races on public roads while accomodating traffic and keeping disruption to a minimum.  It's a long road, but we're slowly getting there.

Kok Nam, Mozambican Photojournalist, dies aged 73

On Saturday 11th of August 2012 Kok Nam, legendary Mozambican Photojournalist, died, close to his 73rd birthday.  According to reports he had been battling for some time with illness.

Here are a few sites that talk of his life and work. He will be sorely missed. 

Paz á sua alma.


http://www.iluminandovidas.org/pages/kok.html


http://delagoabayworld.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/celebrando-a-vida-e-a-obra-de-kok-nam-mocambicano-1939-2012/

Women in cycling & the olympic games

This year sees the UK achieve it's greatest success in medal haul at an Olympic games.  Part of that success comes from it's strenght in track events, and even more of that strength comes from it's women athletes and cyclists.  Track cycling is a funny sport, a bit like badminton or ping-pong, dominated by few countries where the sport is widely practiced, but almost unknown in many parts of the globe.  Unlike badminton or ping-pong though, the initial investment is rather large, with cycle tracks costing a few million dollars at least, much more if covered and heated. 
However track cycling has something really going for it at the Olympics..  Compared to road cycling at the Olympics, where there were 4 individual gold medals on offer (womens road and tt, mens road and tt), the track has offered up a staggering 10 of which 4 are for teams, which means you physically get more medals to show off at home!  Do a sum of kms raced, number of bikes etc, and you'll see that the proportion of Road race riders vying for a medal to track riders is overwhelmingly lop-sided.  Much easier to get a medal at the track.. The Keirin race in particular, after the qualifying rounds, sees SEVEN riders vying for 3 medals (gold, silver and bronze). Of course you have to qualify, much like for a track event like the 100m dash, but the chances are absolutely fantastically in your favour. 

So that's the track racing argument.

Now for the women in cycling argument.  Basically, women are grossly under-represented in cycling in many countries, especially Africa.  However the Olympics have seen a trend at setting a level playing field, with as many women events as possible, and as much parity in the events as possible (see http://www.womenscycling.net/2012/NewsPages2012/08_001_Track%20Parity.htm ). 
At the recent African Games in Maputo the field of participants for the women events was easily a QUARTER of the mens.  So logic would dictate that if you want a chance at a medal, any medal, then you should be concentrating on women's teams and not mens.  Add to that the disparity between road and track events, and the clear picture for medal hopes at an Olympics is to invest all your eggs in a women's track cycling team!  Especially if you're a relatively less affluent African country!  Having said that, we also need to look at the economics of getting an Olympic gold medal.  As all countries have limited resources, it's important that they spend their money well. And although having a women's track team in Mozambique might be an avenue to Olympic gold in Rio or further afield, the potential cost of this sort of program is quite prohibitive (see http://inrng.com/2012/08/british-cycling-funding/#more-10312 ).  Still, food for thought..

But wait, there's more!!!

I mean, why limit ourselves to just track racing where, admittedly, the infrastructure investment is relatively huge.  What about BMX and Mountain biking?! I mean, there are events for women in the Olympics.. So maybe the best chance at Olympic gold for a country like Mozambique will be either a Women's BMX or MTB team.. Fewer medals but again fewer competitors.  Food for thought.. Any ideas, please drop a comment in the box below.

And thanks to inner ring blog for some of the links.

PS - So which bike will you be getting your daughter this Christmas?

Circuito de Mavalane race report - 29th of July 2012

As some of you may already know the FMC - Federação Moçambicana de Ciclismo - has created a new race format with the intention of bringing cycling closer to cyclists and aspiring cyclists living in and around Maputo.  The race format is primarily circuits, or as they are more commonly known, Criteriums.   

From around 7:30 onwards riders started assembling close to the Galp petrol station near the airport.  For those curious of trivia, Mavalane is actually the name of the Maputo Airport.  The race would be a number of circuits -2 laps (16km) for u16's, 4 laps (32km) for "Populares" and 8 laps (64km) for Federated cyclists.  The start of the 3 groups would take place at the same time, 8:30, however it was only at 9:20 that all the riders were ready and assembled to take to the road.   

Notwithstanding the late start the weather was quite chilly and cloudy and windy weather ensured that it would stay that way for most of the race.  The course saw a strong traffic police presence, at most intersections and along the route, with several motor-bikes to guide the peloton along.  The route went around the Airport park, back along Acordos de Lusaka to Praça dos Herois Moçambicanos, then along Avenida das FPLM to Praça dos Combatentes and then back along FPLM and around the Herois roundabout to the start.  All these roads were dual lane which meant that the riders would have access to a dedicated lane separated by traffic cones.  The lap length of 8km and the slight rise along FPLM as well as the wind would be factors in the day.  The first lap was declared neutral by race director Messias Langa, to guarantee that riders would know the course, and they set off at a comfortable pace of around 20km/hour until halfway through when Carlos complained of the lack of speed and upped the pace slightly. The large peloton including riders of different levels was an issue with some hitting traffic cones and one rider coming unstuck and falling.  However the Red Cross was on hand for any serious injuries.  It was a relatively sedate pace till we got to the finishing straight at the end of the neutral lap when riders then took off on a flying sprint and kept a strong pace to shed the weaker riders.  Immediately a selection was made which saw a group of around 10 riders form at the front. Strong pace-making by Vicente Mafumo, Carlos Sales and last year’s U-23 champion Gustavo da Silva with occasional attacks and pulls by Betinho Cuambe saw a consistently high race pace.  Other riders in the break included Wade Rasse, Joao, Abub, and Rodrigo, amongst others.   

Each lap saw one rider ejected from the peloton until by the 2^nd lap to go just 6 riders were in the mix – the first three above plus Mike Simms, Mario Traversi and “Biopace” Isaac Cossa.  However in the second-last lap a counter attack by Carlos after Mario had just put in one saw Mario and Isaac fall off the pace while the four powered on.  The wind meant that once the riders fell out of the lead group they would not be able to make it back.  The gap grew and by the end of the 2^nd lap the leaders had gained around 500m.  The lead group kept up the pressure with Mike Simms putting in some strong efforts to fend off attacks.  At the final roundabout Gustavo attacked and managed to get a gap but the long finishing straight allowed Carlos Sales to charge and catch him, but when he went around him in the final metres Gustavo squeezed the gap and took line honours with Carlos taking second and Mike rounding out the Podium in third place.

I do not have details of the 4 and 2 lap races, although these will be communicated by the media in due course, as there was a strong TV and radio presence at the race.  

The atmosphere at the race was very positive with cyclists from different walks of life and different levels taking part, with a few women riders in there for good measure.  Many spectators lined the route which meant good visibility for the sport.  The traffic police are becoming more used to dealing with cyclists and understanding the speed at which we race, touching 50 or 60km an hour in sprints and downhill sections.  TRAC, that are sponsoring the race series, seem intent on a long-standing relationship which is a positive step for the sport.  

 Some issues to report though – Start times were not adhered to, which is a recurring problem in organising events. We must be mindful both for participants who arrive on time and motorists who must wait for the events to finish to have full access to the roads.   Crowd control at the finish line was not perfect with riders, spectators and vehicles blocking the road on occasion.  Control of traffic along the route was not perfect and several riders not with the lead peloton had issues with vehicles during the race.  Glass was also an issue and more troubling, more glass was seen as the race progressed, which meant that passing motorists or passers-by were throwing bottles on the course.  There was no water-point for the race, which although a short distance, did see one rider fall due to dehydration (although promptly assisted by the Red Cross).  With time these races will improve and become a positive force in sport.

 

Mike showing off his non-cycling muscles.

 Athletes from other disciplines give some support for race logistics

Carlos and representative of Trac (race sponsor) discuss a future sponsorship deal

Tri-brothers, Rodrigo and Mike.

 

An assortment of jerseys and riders.  Cycling interest is hopefully going to grow.

Race distance is 16 laps!?! HaHa..

 Riders waiting around for the start

Some creative ideas for helmets.  From the next circuit race the no helmet - no ride policy will be enforced.

Startline - all three distances started at the same time and the first lap was a neutral one.

Podium for 64km race - Gustavo 1st, Carlos 2nd, Mike 3rd