MUZI RULES IN MANDLA SIMELANE ROAD CLASSIC

SITEKI – Photo finish.

This is how one can describe the Mandla Simelane Road Classic winner, Muzi Shabangu’s spectacular finish. After being tied for almost the entire race, the national road champion holder shook off strong contender Kwanele Jele to win the 115km race. He crossed the finish line in 3:20:58 hours beating Jele in by a second. The latter crossed the finish line at 3:20:59 hours. Noteworthy is that Shabangu, 23 years old beat last years’ time by at least seven minutes which was set by the race winner Morgan Rudd at 3:27:13 hours. The start of the official Eswatini Cycling Association (ECA) endorsed race had delayed close to an hour start following the drizzling and last minute registration for some cyclists.

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The main race was supposed to start at 7am while the 60km and 30km had to start 30 minutes later. Despite the  delayed start, and wet weather conditions, it did not  kill the spirit of the over 80 cyclists who came in the numbers for the race which started and finished at Siteki Hotel.  When the race started, eyes were on Shabangu, United States of America Orion Craigue who won the National Road Championship, Swazi Frontier winner William Kelly and Swazi Frontier runners-up Lungelo Mlangeni. Nobody thought Newcom Wheels Cycling Club 21-year old Jele would give the winner a hard time until it was decided approximately 50m away from finish.

From the onset the duo of Shabangu and Jele broke away from the peloton (group of riders) to set a new pace. They opened a 100m gap 20km into the race and just before they knew it, the they were not visible from the peloton. The finish-up was exciting to watch as Jele started accelerating 100m away but the MTN Khemani   saw this coming and also accelerated swerving side to side. Jele tried to catch him but it was too late as Shabangu had gain momentum toward the finish line.

Won

“There w as   no way Jele could have won this race. I have experience in road cycling. I knew he would want to beat me in the last   minute but I had more energy was he was using his last energy,” said Shabangu excitement written all over his face. Jele admitted he was running out of steam toward the finish line and could not catch up with the eventual winner. “What pains me is that I rode with him all the way only to lose just few meters away. I tried my best but my best was not good enough for the experienced Shabangu,” he said.

Meanwhile coming third was another MTN Khemani cyclist Lungelo Mlangeni who finished in 3:25:23 hours, while William Kelly came fourth on 3:31:37 hours with Malvin Masango and Orion Craigue coming fifth and sixth respectively on 3:31:46 and 3:33:32 hours. Dinize Wilsch was the winner in the ladies category in the 115km beating Sebenele Magongo by approximately 30minutes. The 4Eva Cycling Club rider finished the race in 4:23:06 hours while her club mate crossed the line in 4:51:44 hours.

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