African honours to Surén and Van Vuuren
Mountain biking
The Namibia Cycling Federation (NCF) is celebrating two new continental junior champions, following the completion of the African mountain biking championship in Casablanca, Morocco last weekend.Delsia Janse van Vuuren, in her first year as UCI junior women’s rider (under-18), won two gold medals – firstly the short-course race (XCC) on Saturday, which was also used to determine starting positions for the longer cross-country championship race (XCO) on Sunday, which she also won.
Roger Surén, also in his first year as UCI junior men’s rider after having proven his racing talent at U16 level in South Africa and Europe, won gold in the cross-country and silver in the short course.
Elite men’s rider and former continental champion Alex Miller won two silver medals, in the cross-country and the short course, beaten only by South Africa’s top rider Alan Hatherly.
Kevin Lowe, despite losing time with technical setbacks on his bike, finished third in the men’s U23 XCO race (and sixth in the overall elite men’s race) on Sunday, with his countryman Theuns van der Westhuizen fifth in the U23 category.
Under national head coach Hans du Toit, the Namibians once again proved their potency with a small, but strong representation.