Talented Surén delivers world-class ride
Mountain biking
Roger Surén finished in an excellent second place in the junior men’s race at the Swiss Cup cross-country mountain bike race in Leysin, a ski resort in Switzerland, last Sunday.Namibia national coach Hans du Toit has accompanied Surén, Delsia van Vuuren (junior women) and Alex Miller (elite men) for a series of cross-country races in Europe, to expose them to a top level of competition.
As Du Toit points out, Switzerland will always be a world powerhouse in the sport.
“At the last European championships, Switzerland’s four elite women were all in the top six, as well as two of their elite men in the top-ten.
“The rider that beat Roger, is ranked number 8 among junior men in the world. He had a bit of an off day at the European championship, finishing in 13th position, but he is a year older than Roger and a very strong rider.
“Roger and Delsia (national under-16 champions until last year) are both in their first year of competing in the UCI junior category (U18) and recently won their first African continental titles in Morocco.
“Last Sunday’s experience against top-level competition is the exact reason that we came here for. The cross-country track at Leysin was very difficult, in typical European conditions with a natural forest route on a surface softened by rain in the days beforehand, with lots of slippery mud and rocks and tree roots.”
Surén, who has had exposure to races in Europe in two previous years and even impressively won a Swiss Cup U16 race in August 2022, spent Sunday’s four-lap race consistently in the top three or five positions.
Although he was challenged in a tight final race for positions two to four, Surén outsprinted his opposition to complete the course in one hour 12 minutes, a difference of 51 seconds behind the winner Noel Toth of Switzerland. He was the only non-Swiss rider in the top nine.
Junior women
Du Toit says it is no secret that Van Vuuren’s junior women’s race would have been a tough introduction to her first European competition outside Namibia, South Africa or Morocco.
“Delsia will need exposure to get used to this level of racing, but she handled herself very well under difficult circumstances. The ability that she has shown to finish tough high-level races is a promising sign.”
Van Vuuren finished in sixth place, 14 minutes behind the local rider Muriel Furrer’s winning time of 1 hour 12 minutes 24 seconds.
Elite men
The elite men’s race, featuring Alex Miller of Namibia and a few individuals from France, Germany and South Africa, was shortened to six laps due to approaching thunderstorms.
The Swiss riders once again dominated four of the top-five places in a race won by Timon Ruegg. Miller took eighth place, just more than five minutes behind the flying Ruegg.
Du Toit says: “Alex was also in a very strong field. We are currently changing our programme from the recent marathon races to the cross-country format in the build-up to the Olympic Games in Paris. In this way we are working towards regaining the leg speed required in this discipline. Our three riders will be entered in another race in Switzerland this coming weekend.”