The 10-year-old MTB star outshined his competitors in the U12 category at a race at the Moorddrift dairy farm in Mokopane recently. The win qualifies him to compete in the national championship next year in February. His father, Stefan van den Borre, told the Herald that they are pleased with his performance.

“We are obviously proud of Aron, and it gives us great pleasure to witness his growth from when he was a little nipper boy to now being a sprog boy. “He is very disciplined, he practices without being pushed, so we believe one day he will qualify to go to the Olympics,” Stefan said.  Aron has started to prepare for the MTB school series which will start in August.

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He will be representing his school, Kingfisher Private School. By wearing the school jersey, he hopes to encourage other learners to take mountain biking up as a sport. Last year, young Aron was named the 2022 South African XCO champion at Happy Valley Conservancy in Bloemfontein. He received his South African colours and a gold medal.

The XCO championship is an Olympic event whereby participants compete over a number of laps including technical sections. The young rider started riding at the age of two at home cycling with his family. During school holidays the family visits destinations where they are able to cycle, so Aron and his older brother, Arno, had no choice but to cycle from a young age.

The van den Borre family thanked Kingfisher Private School’s headmaster, Renee Rudolph, for the support they gave the young champion.