Hinz’s first African medal makes sacrifices worthwhile
Road cycling
After making her ultimate dream come true by winning her first elite women’s medal at the continental championship, Melissa Hinz admitted to being “quite emotional” and “very happy that I decided to come”.As Namibia's only representative at the African road cycling championship in Kenya, Hinz (38) will return home with a bronze medal after finishing in third position in the elite women's individual time trial on a 22.5 kilometre course yesterday morning.
Thirty-year-old Lucy Young of South Africa (31 minutes 32.48 seconds) won the gold, with her illustrious compatriot Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (38) 32 seconds later.
Hinz (2 minutes 05 seconds after Young) was comfortably faster than Lucy de Marigny of Mauritius, Diane Ingabire of Rwanda and Kendra Masiga as the first Kenyan.
‘Knew I had a chance’
A delay in confirmation of the details of this year's continental showpiece prevented the Namibian Cycling Federation from sending a proper team as usual to Eldoret in western Kenya.
“The dates came out so late that I almost did not come, but I knew I had to chase my dreams. I’m one of the older riders and I knew that I would have a better chance to win a medal in the time trial than in the road race.
“The conditions today were actually okay and I gave it my best. There were a lot of speed bumps, but I did train to prepare for it.”
Hinz foresees a switch in spending more time with her family from now on.
“This will be my last year in the elite women’s category, before I turn 40 in November next year and competing in my age category.
“I think the biggest sacrifice I’ve made is time away from my family. As a mother with a son in grade 1 it is not easy juggling training and travelling to compete as an elite cyclist. One also risks your life a bit while training hard and often on the highways around Windhoek.
“Ending my relatively short career in elite road cycling with such a special medal at the African Championship means a lot to me. I feel there is a time for everything and moving on will open up matters for the next generation to step up to the plate.”
‘Came far in a very short career’
Hinz, a late developer in the sport, has twice won the national time trial championship title (2020 and 2023) and has represented Namibia at the UCI world championship in Glasgow last year.
“I was 30 years old when my husband bought me my first bicycle. I later started doing triathlons before I only really transitioned in the last four years to concentrate my efforts on becoming a competitive road cyclist. Initially I would have never dreamt that I could come this far in such a short time.”
Her bronze medal is an improvement on her very decent 6th position at the 2023 African Championships’ individual time trail in Accra, Ghana.
Hinz will also compete in the African championships’ elite women's road race over 105 kilometres on Saturday.
“I know that the route with lots of hills does not suit me as well as it does the pure climbers, but I’ll give it my best before returning home on Sunday.
“I feel very proud of myself. I think Namibia actually competes amazingly well if you consider that we don’t have the same road structures or facilities as European countries. I also think Namibians can give a bit more credit to themselves.
“It takes a lot of grit and self-belief to ride against the best and to chase your dreams, but I feel it was worth it.”