Cycle race to take over over M13
The M13 will be closed for most of Sunday, 23 June as riders compete in the South African Youth Road Cycling National Championships.
THE roads of Westville and Camperdown will come alive with young cyclists on 22 and 23 June 22 as the country’s top junior riders fight it out for national titles at the South African Youth Road Cycling National Championships.
The time trial races will be held on the Lion Park circuit in Camperdown on Saturday, 22 June while the road races will take place on the M13 in Westville the next day.
The Westville event will start at 6am on the Sunday and will end at about 3pm. Riders will be competing for both male and female titles across the U11, U13, U15, U17 and U19 categories. Medals and national champion’s jerseys will be awarded for all age groups.
In the time trial events, the distances range from 8km for the U11 riders up to 29.5km for the U19 men while the U19 women’s race will clock a distance of 17.7km.
Sunday’s mass start road races will see the U11 boys and girls go head to head over one 16km lap of the M13 circuit. The U19 men will complete seven laps for a distance of 112km and the U19 women will do five laps in their 80km race.
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KZN Cycling is excited about the opportunity to develop road cycling by hosting some of the country’s future stars in KZN.
The out and back time trial route at the Lion Park will be held on a relatively flat stretch of road near Camperdown. The course is fairly straight with few technical challenges for the competitors and will be a fair test of speed and fitness for young riders.
The M13 loop that will be used for the road races is the same as was used for the successful senior championship in 2014. The initial half of the loop is undulating before riders plunge down a fast descent to the Westwood Mall where they negotiate a second 180-degree hairpin turn and start the big climb back up to the start finish area.
The climb is almost certainly going to be the definitive portion of the course and will surely be where the race-winning moves are made. If the leading bunch stays together until the final lap, the strongest climbers will have an advantage as the climbs peaks just before the downhill sprint to the finish.
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