Cycling South Africa’s 2024 national road race championships were recently held in Midvaal in the south of Gauteng.

A 17-year-old schoolboy from Pretoria showed during this championship why he has been regarded by experts as one of South Africa’s most promising young road cyclists since he took up this category of the cycling sport a few years ago, having previously also gained fame as one of the country’s most exciting young mountain bikers.

Travis Rademan-Ludeke, a matric boy from Pretoria Boys High School, took on the best junior cyclists of South Africa at the championship and after a killer day on the road he was crowned as the new junior SA champion for 2024.

2024 Road Race National Champion Travis Rademan -Ludeke walks us through his race #roadchamps24 pic.twitter.com/bnegNYNGkz

— Cycling South Africa (@Cycling_SA) February 4, 2024

The National Road Championships is the highlight for cycling on the South African domestic racing calendar.  The event included national championships for Junior u.19, u.23, Elite, Para-cycling, Veteran and Master riders in both the men and women categories.

A national champion is therefore crowned in each category.

This year, the prestigious annual cycling event took place in collaboration with the Midvaal Municipality.  The race covered a distance of 141km, with 1648m of elevation through the course.  Riders undertook laps around the well-known Bosco Loop in Midvaal, followed by a loop of the beautiful but gruelling Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve.

Cycling SA revealed a three-year partnership with Midvaal Municipality for the National Championships and Qondisa Ngwenya, Cycling South Africa President, expressed his satisfaction with the presentation of the event and the route.

Rademan-Ludeke was ecstatic after his performance.

“I am so proud to wear the South African jersey. It is a really tough race and the pace through the reserve was hard. I am grateful to all the support I have received from my team – Project Dream SA – my coach and my family,” he said excitedly and relieved.

The new champion had to put in a big effort, especially towards the end of the race, to beat his two biggest opponents, Travis Cuthbert from Kwazulu-Natal and another Gauteng rider, Matthew Symm. They ended up finishing only 15 seconds behind him in second and third place respectively.

This promising young cyclist is a former Gauteng Central XCO Champion. He was initially known as a mountain bike rider, who also achieved great success in this category. In 2020 however, he started concentrating on road bike racing, although he still competes in mountain bike races all over South Africa.

Rademan-Ludeke still dreams big about his career as a cyclist and in the longer term it remains his goal to be able to represent his country at international events such as the Olympics and the Cycling World Championships.

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