Rising star Unathi Nxumalo has been selected as part of Team SA to compete at the CAC Mountain Bike African Championships at Thaba Trails Gauteng from 2 to 4 June.
South African mountain biker, Unathi Nxumalo. Picture: pumpforpeace/ Instagram
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa is hosting a variety of epic sporting events in 2023 and one of them is the CAC Mountain Bike African Championships 2023 in both Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) and Cross-Country Short Track (XCC) disciplines at Thaba Trails Gauteng from 2 to 4 June.
Rising star Unathi Nxumalo has been selected as part of Team SA, alongside 15 other riders in the junior, U23 and elite categories.
The U23 rider said that his focus for the upcoming championships was keeping his cool and giving it his best.
Unathi Nxumalo not too far from race leaders. pic.twitter.com/hXm0ICol5B
‘ O Bidli (@Ondela_Bidli) May 27, 2023
“Focus for this race is to make sure I race at my best, so I can get the best results and also to make sure that I am not putting too much pressure on me as it is very important to not have pressure for the race. Lots of SA riders will be racing this race, so everyone will be performing for the best results, which will be good for Team SA,” said Nxumalo.
The 20-year-old hails from Hammarsdale, a rural village outside Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He was part of a cycling development programme run by Absolute Motion and his coach, Johann Wykerd, and has been steadily building his cycling career.
“My whole cycling career has been something amazing. Looking back at how I started everything, it is quite amazing, and I am not done. There is still more to achieve in my cycling career and to see that I am already inspiring other people who also love cycling makes me happy all the time,” said the youngster.
Congratulations to Unathi Nxumalo for his outstanding performance. He finished 11th overall in the @tankwatrek race. ????♀️????♀️????♀️????????
???? @oakpics @PrimeHPI @SportArtsKZN @KZNCycling @kznsportconfed1 #eadp2023 #Kznsport #highperformance #development #kznsport #elite pic.twitter.com/xBtHwRSHDJ
‘ EADP KwaZulu-Natal (@EADP_KZN) February 14, 2023
Nxumalo started cycling in 2016 after a friend took him to a local club in Hammarsdale and has since made numerous top-10 South African Elite XCO finishes and placed fifth at the 2022 African Continental MTB Championships.
“Lots of competitions have been my favourite. I would say every race I have ever done has been important to me. Also racing World Championships in 2021 was something amazing. Also participating at the African Championships last year was amazing as well because those races helped me to gain more experience, like racing world championships.”
The adaptable rider holds his own in mountain biking, road and gravel and has signed his first professional contract with UCI-registered mountain bike team Pump for Peace Racing.
“It has been a long journey. Being a professional cyclist was my biggest goal, but it is my first year as a professional cyclist, and I’m still learning a lot from my team managers and my teammates.”
Looking good in green???? Safe to say African Continental Championships was a success for South Africa!????????
Tyler Jacobs – 1st Junior
Justin Swanepoel- 7th junior
Unathi Nxumalo – 5th U23
Daniel van der Watt – 6th U23
Matthew Scott – 9th U23 pic.twitter.com/iOXSOsZpCX‘ KZN Mountain Biking (@KZNMTB) April 25, 2022
The KZN-born athlete joins XCO riders Faranak Partoazar from Iran and Tumelo Makae from Lesotho at Pump for Peace Racing. Both riders are multiple national champions in their respective countries.
“I would like to see more riders from Africa racing at the big events overseas. There are some riders that are already racing overseas but I would like to see more participating overseas, also here in Africa like at the African Champs, this would be amazing. Another thing is that I would like to see more women [participating],” said Nxumalo.
The CAC MTB African Championships at Thaba Trails Gauteng will feature individual competitions in the UCI categories, including elite, Under-23, and junior. Only elite riders (19+ years) will compete for the title of XCC African Champion. The event will be sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the Confederation Africaine de Cyclisme (CAC).
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