Lucy Young led South Africa to reclaim the Mixed Relay title at the second day of the CAC African Road Cycling Championships in Kisumu.
Young, the winner of both the Eldoret and Kwale Road title winner led her team to claim the first gold in the 40.8km Mixed Relay alongside Magda Nieuwoudt, powerhouse squad of Gustav Basson, Joshua Dike, Ryno Schutte, Lucy Young and Lisa Bone winning the title in 56:04.38.
They completely dethroned the defending champions team Mauritius, settled for silver in 56:17.27 while Rwanda completed the podium at
Young explained that the South African boys laid down a ferocious opening effort, essentially turning themselves into human rockets before handing over the momentum to the women.
“The boys started us off… they had the fastest time out of all the countries, and then the girls picked it up from there. We were so amazing!” Young said, celebrating South Africa’s first team time trial appearance in three years.
Despite their commanding performance, Young admitted that the course presented its fair share of challenges. “The course is very technical, I won’t say it’s a normal ITT course but once you learn the corners, it good.”
Rwanda’s Eric Muhoza revealed his team had to dig into the absolute depths of their souls to secure bronze (56:30.13) after a teammate fell ill on lap one, forcing them to finish the brutal, corner-heavy course with a reduced squad.
“The race was tough. We lost our team mate in the first lap so we had to do with just two of us. The cyclist was not feeling well,” he said.
Muhoza also pointed to the demanding nature of the course, explaining that the numerous corners, road bumps and repeated bursts of acceleration made it difficult for riders to maintain their rhythm throughout the race.
“The course was tough, a lot of corners and you have to break and then accelerate hard after each corner. There are also lots of bumps.”
And while Team Kenya missed out on a home-ground podium to finish fifth, Monica Jelimo remained perfectly upbeat, praising the team’s seamless flow through Kisumu’s endless turns.
Rwanda entered this year’s competition as silver medallists from last year and were determined to improve on that performance by challenging for gold.
Although they fell short of their ultimate ambition, Muhoza said the team took pride in securing another podium finish in a demanding contest.
“One side we are not happy because we were looking for gold but we are happy for the podium.”
Team Kenya missing out on the podium, Monica Jelimo was upbeat about the team’s performance, insisting that the riders had given their best and worked well together throughout the race.
Jelimo said the team’s co-ordination was encouraging, while the course, despite its numerous corners, allowed them to maintain a relatively smooth rhythm.
“The race was nice, we had nice coordination as a team and we did our very best,” Jelimo said.
“The course was fair, too much corners but it was flowing for us.”
Still, the day undeniably belonged to South Africa, who rode a glorious wave of pure teamwork, raw speed, and the undeniable, gold-medal-yielding power of Kenyan ugali!
Leading Mixed Relay Results:
1. South Africa (Gustav Basson, Joshua Dike, Ryno Schutte, Lucy Young, Lisa Bone, Magda Nieuwoudt) – 56:04.380;
2. Mauritius (Alexandre Mayer, Aurelin De Comarmond, Daniel Yon Hin, Aurelie Halbwachs, Lucy De Marigny Lagesse, Raphaelle Lamusse) – 56:17.278
3. Rwanda (Eric Muhoza, Shemu Nsingeyumva, Etienne Tuyizere, Xaveline Nirere, Diane Ingabire, Jazilla Mwamikazi) – 56:30.130