TEAM RWANDA riders Abraham Ruhumuriza and Nathan Byukusenge have departed for Switzerland ahead of this year’s Swiss Mountain Bike race scheduled for September 15-20.

The pair left the country on Friday night ahead of the event commonly known as Swiss Epic international mountain bike race.

The race is expected to attract more than 600 riders under 300 teams. Each team will have two players.

Ruhumuriza and Byukusenge’s trip to Switzerland is facilitated by Team Rwanda Cycling Project. The race will include two courses – the Swiss Epic with a length of 400 kilometres and an elevation gain of 15,000 metres, and the Swiss Epic Flow with a length of 300 kilometres and an elevation gain of 8,000 metres.

The starting field is nothing but illustrious; with Jaroslav Kulhavy, Alban Lakata and Christoph Sauser present.  All the 2014 Marathon World Cup winners will be participating in the Perskindol Swiss Epic.

Many of the world’s best mountain bike racers are not missing out on this new event, including world champions, Olympic champions and Cape Epic winners.

 Some of the most anticipated contenders from the sport’s top echelons include marathon world champion Christoph Sauser and Czech Olympic champion Jaroslav Kulhavy, who will start together as the specialized team.

Other top riders include; world champion Nino Schurter and former runner-up world champion Florian Vogel.

The Bulls team of Cape Epic winner Karl Platt from Germany and Swiss marathon champion Urs Huber, and the BMC team of former world champion Ralph Näf and Lukas Flückiger are similarly expected to impress.

 Top female contestants include recent marathon world champion Annika Langvad and Swiss-born Ariane Kleinhans from South Africa.

Rwf7.3m boost for Team Rwanda

Perskindol Swiss Epic is supporting Team Rwanda Cycling with each ticket purchased for the draw to participate in the starting field; a charity contribution will be collected to go towards the Rwanda team.

Perskindol Swiss Epic has managed to donate close to CHF10, 000 (Rwf7.3m) to Team Rwanda Cycling Project.

Meanwhile, Rwanda is currently taking part in the Inter-bike trade show in United States of America.

The Rwanda Cycling Federation is represented by General Secretary Thierry Rwabusaza along with Team Rwanda coach Jonathan Boyer and rider Janvier Hadi.