As cycling (road and mountain bike) continues to grow as one of Rwanda’s top sport, the local cycling federation (FERWACY) has started spreading wings into track cycling.

FERWACY has sent two teenage riders including; 16-year-old Jean Eric Habimana, who rides for Nyarugenge District-based Fly Cycling Club, and 19-year-old Didier Munyaneza of Club Benediction de Rubavu, to South Africa to attend a track cycling clinic.

The duo left the country on Thursday aboard a RwandAir flight accompanied by retired cyclist Nathan Byukusenge, who will also be taking a coaching course in the sport.

The clinic is scheduled to start today and will run until March 26 at the World Cycling Centre Africa (WCC Africa), located in Potchefstroom.

"Our aim is to develop this sport and start competing in international competitions and that’s why we are sending the two young riders and their coach to South Africa to develop their skills,” said FERWACY permanent secretary, Emmanuel Murenzi.

After the clinic, the pair is expected to debut at this year’s African Continental Track Cycling Championships that will be held on March 20-23 at the Cyril Geoghegan Velodrome in Durban, South Africa.

"It’s a very expensive type of sport in terms of facilities required, which we don’t have now in Rwanda but, through different partnerships, our riders will continue receiving necessary training wherever possible,” noted Murenzi.

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes (but many events are held at older velodromes where the track banking is relatively shallow) using track bicycles.

Its events fit into two broad categories; sprint races and endurance races. Riders will typically fall into one category and not compete in the other.

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