Well-known face on his way to the Commonwealth Games
The director of Mountain Bike for Cycling South Africa and well-known cycling face of Mbombela, Brett Coates is appointed as code manager of team South Africa at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
“It is a huge privilege to represent the Lowveld and it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Coates said on Monday morning. He departed for Johannesburg for a holding camp where he gets the chance to meet all the cyclists and the team leaves for Glasgow on Wednesday. He has been involved in cycling for the past 16 years and an excellent report caused him to be chosen by Cycling South Africa (CSA).”
This body nominates a manager and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) then phoned me four weeks ago and informed me that I will be travelling with a team of six women on the road, two mountain bikers, seven track cyclists and two managers. The Commonwealth Games is second only to the Olympics and we hope to achieve at least three medals with the cycling team.”
The cycling programme will showcase the disciplines of mountain bike, road and track. It promises an adrenaline-packed mix of speed, endurance and tactics. The games itself commence on Wednesday July 23 and Coates will only return late August.
In the past two years he has managed mountain-bike teams in the Marathon World Championships in Austria and Pietermaritzburg as well as an invitational team in China. Coates is also the race director for the MTN Sabie Classic. “I run the largest MTB club in the province, the Lowveld Chaingang and do consultancy work for Valencia cycles in Mbombela. The Commonwealth Games will be a fantastic opportunity for South Africa to showcase its cycling talent to the world and it’s privilege to be managing the team.”
Well-known cyclists such as the top road international rider, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Mariska Strauss, Philip Buys and Argus Women winner, Cherise Standers is some of the riders touring to Scotland. The SA team consists of 253 athletes.
