Smith won the tough 90km race on Saturday finishing ahead of Jabu Tabolane also from GCC. The physically draining race took riders from Kopong Filling Station towards Molepolole main road, then back past Kopong to Lentsweletau before passing through the village of Kopong to the finish point at the filling station.
Smith took his opening day form to the 60km mountain bike race yesterday where he managed to withstand stiff competition from Victor Potgeiter and Keith Marais who finished seconds after him. Smith was in charge for the first 30km loop of the race but Potgeiter and Marais closed in the final loop and almost overtook him but the experienced cyclist maintained his pace just seconds ahead of them to finish first. Smith won the race with a time of 2:24:00, while Potgeiter and Marais came two seconds close with 2:26:00.
Martine Nel was the winner in the women's category clocking a time of 2:45:00. On the 30km race earlier on yesterday, Kevin Kefilwe came first at 1:33:00 followed by Samuel Gape and Nono Mooketsi who recorded 1:33:00 and 1: 35:00 respectively.
Speaking to Monitor Sport at the end of yesterday's race, Smith said the thorny mountain terrain was quite challenging, but he enjoyed the challenge. He commended his runner-ups for a good race they had putting him under pressure to the finish. "It was quite a good race and challenging I must say. The weather was also good hence most of us managed to improve on our times," he said. He said the race would become even more interesting with more sponsors on board to attract more cyclists from outside the country.
On the part of the organisers, GCC Chairperson Seamus O'Neill said the race has improved tremendously over the years in terms of the number of cyclists and general organisation. More than 150 cyclists registered for this year's event.
He said this year they managed to involve the residents of Kopong actively in the race with the 9km Humber Bike Village ride that took place on Saturday. This year's race was the first to be run in two separate days and welcomed a new sponsor on board, Trellidor/Alluminium 2000 who pledged over P10,000 towards the event. It started with the 90km road race on Saturday that was followed by a 50km race and the 9km village ride completed the events of the first day.
Yesterday saw the elite riders taking to the road in the 30km and 60km Cobra mountain bike events. A 5km kiddies' race also spiced up the events of the final day. Gaborone Garage and Cycles sponsored the previous two editions of the race. The annual event is organised by GCC with the help of Botswana Cycling Association (BCA). Cyclists also used the race to prepare for the annual Subaru Kalahari Cycling challenge that takes pace from July 23-24.c