Hesron Kapanga
Eight Namibian cyclists have been chosen to represent Namibia at the inaugural International Cycling Union (UCI) Cycling World Championships set for Glasgow, Scotland, next month.
The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, taking place from 03 to 13 August, 2023, comprise all the major cycling disciplines, such as road cycling, BMX, mountain biking, and track cycling, and will include both male and female competition. Paralympic disciplines will also be staged alongside the able-bodied competition.
The inaugural event will be the single biggest cycling event in history, bringing together 13 existing individual cycling world championship disciplines into one mega event.
The eight Namibian cyclists who will compete in the mountain and road cycling events at the championships were selected by the Namibia Cycling Federation (NCF).
They include female riders Vera Looser, Monique du Plessis, Eden Spangenberg, and Melissa Hinz, while their male counterparts are Alex Miller, Daniel Hahn, Hugo Hahn, and Kevin Lowe.
According to the NCF earlier this week, the riders were selected based on their UCI world ranking by the end of 20 June 2023.
At the championship, Namibian athletes will start with their participation on 5 August 2023, in the women’s junior road race with Eden Spangenberg, who will be coming from the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) Horizons Africa Women’s Cycling Project 2023.
On 6 August, Miller and Looser will compete in the mountain bike cross-country marathon in the elite men’s and women’s categories, respectively.
Daniel Hahn and Lowe will compete in the junior men’s mountain bike cross-country Olympics on 10, followed by Hugo Hahn on 11 August in the men’s Under-23 Mountain bike cross-country Olympics. Miller will once again be on track on 12 August in the elite men’s mountain bike cross-country Olympics.
The elite women’s category will see Du Plessis, who is part of the UCI ANOCA Performance Training Programme 2023, and Hinz, who qualified through the Gran Fondo, a self-funded programme, competing in the road race on 13 August.
The trip to the world championship is made possible by financial assistance from Rock ‘n Rut Mountain Bike Club, Cymot, Pupkewitz MegaTech, Hollard Namibia, and the NCF. - Nampa