Three young Capetonian cyclists have done the city proud by winning gold in their individual categories at the African Continental Track Championships that was held in Pietermaritzburg last week.
The three up-and-coming cycling stars from the Kinetic Cycling Club in Ravensmead brought home gold after competing against six other African countries – Egypt, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, and Seychelles.
Matthew Fortuin (17) from Bellville, Jonathan Bouwer (16) from Rosendal and Carl Bonthuys (22) from Kraaifontein all came out on top in their categories.
Kinetics chairman O’Ryan Bruintjie told IOL the club is thrilled with the excellent results.
“We are immensely proud of our riders as they [have been] part of our development programme for the last five years,” he said.
“We want to show that with limited resources, it is possible to become successful and deliver champions like Matthew Fortuin, Carl Bonthuys and Jonathan Bouwer. If we can get this right at club level, we believe we will be able to influence the future of cycling in the country,” Bruintjie added.
Bonthuys competed in the Elite Men’s section where he won first place in the Scratch race and took fifth place in the Points race.
Fortuin took gold in the Under-19 Junior Men’s section Omnium race as well as silver in the Scratch race, gold in the Madison race and silver in the Points race.
Bouwer also competed in the Under-19 Junior Men’s section and won golds in the Kieran race, the Match Sprint and the Madison race.
Bouwer said, “I was very excited going into this competition as a first-year junior. I could now test my abilities against the older riders in my category.
“I was very honoured to represent my country, and on top of that, do so well in the event itself.”
Bonthuys added in, “It was a great experience racing and interacting with some of the best track riders from Africa.”
Fortuin said he cannot wait for the next competition.
“It was a great racing experience as it was my first time racing track internationals and I learnt a lot.”
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