BMX riders attend prestigious training camp

Sport
TWO of the country’s top elite class BMX riders Penias Tenthani (20) and Scott Donaldson (18) were part of the 26 athletes from 16 countries that benefitted from a talent identification camp held at the prestigious World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland last week.

TWO of the country’s top elite class BMX riders Penias Tenthani (20) and Scott Donaldson (18) were part of the 26 athletes from 16 countries that benefitted from a talent identification camp held at the prestigious World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland last week.

BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE

The aim of the camp was to identify young riders who have the potential to follow in the footsteps of the UCI WCC’s successful trainees in the mould of Rio 2016 bronze medallist Stefany Hernandez.

Athletes had two weeks to learn from world renowned Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WCC coaches Thomas Allier and New Zealander Matt Cameronas. the most promising will be invited to join the Centre’s high-level training group next year.

Cycling Zimbabwe president Andrew Donaldson confirmed the development to Standardsport.

“We had two of our elite riders Penias and Scott attending the training camp. A total of 26 riders male and female were selected from developing BMX Nations to take part in a 10-day training camp,” Donaldson said.

“It’s a massive step for Zimbabwe BMX as well as Zimbabwe Cycling. It shows our athletes are being recognised for their achievements and are now being welcomed to the big stage by being given opportunities to train at a world class centre,” he added.

This was the second time for Tenthani to be invited to such a training camp after he was also part of the 2013 class, but it was his first time to attend as an elite class rider.

Tenthani represented the country in the elite class at the ICU BMX World Championships in Medellin, Colombia back in May, while Scott Donaldson injured himself racing in Durban a month before the global event.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is set to host the BMX Africa Challenge to be attended by a number of countries from the continent, scheduled for November 19 in Harare.