Eritreans exert absolute dominance in African road cycling in Kwale

Eritrea's Birikiti Fessehaye (L), South African's Hayley Preen and Rwanda's Claudette Nyirarukundo. [Courtesy, Standard Sports]

For the second year in a row, Kenya successfully hosted the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) Africa Road Cycling Championship that ended in Diani, Kwale County at the weekend.

Over 300 cyclists, among them creme dela creme of African cycling, battled for glory in the five-day event that saw Eritreans stamp authority over their compatriots from 30 nations across Africa. They dominated their peers on the last day of the event grabbing three gold medals and prove that they are indeed, among the best cyclists in Africa.

Eritrea's Merhawi Kudus signed off in style by claiming the elite men's 163.8km title in what he termed as the biggest win of his career.

Kudus outpaced his challengers to complete the race in 3:53:06 ahead of countryman Awet Aman who won silver in a time of 3:53:07 while Algeria's Abdellah Mimouni completed the podium in 3:54:12.

An elated Kudus was on cloud nine for having finally bagged a major title in his 10 years of professional cycling.

"I have been a professional for more than 10 years and having this victory on my CV is more than I can imagine," Kudus said.

Kudus's conquest extended Eritrea's dominance in the race that his compatriot Henok Mulubrhan dominated for three consecutive years.

Kudus succeeded Mulubrhan, who won the 2022, 2023 and 2024 titles. The cyclists showed resilience riding under the harsh Coast conditions.

They started off in Diani with 10 loops of 14km each before completing the race in Kwale.

Aman scooped a double when he won the Under-23 title in 3:53:07, Mimouni took silver (3:54:12) and Rwanda's Samuel Niyonkuru clocked 3:54:25 to take bronze.

Eritrea's Natan Tesfalem had won the junior men's 107.6km title, the first race on Sunday morning, clocking 2:44:19 and was followed by Uganda's Paul Miro (2:44:44)and Namibia's Roger Suren (2:45:57).

The 107.6km women's road race was described as the greatest women's race of the event. The heat and the long route from Diani to Kwale pushed the cyclists to their limits.

After 3:10:31 seconds, Preen Hayley of South Africa won gold, Fessehaye Birikti of Eritrea took silver with Rwanda's Nyirarukundo Claudette settling for bronze.

In the women's Under-23 category, Nyirarukundo clinched gold medal, leading her Rwandese counterpart Mwamikizi Jazilla to a second-place finish. Fiseha Suzana added a bronze to Eritrea's medal basket in the race.

The 14km and 28km social race added fun, joy and community spirit to the championship. Local families, children and cycling lovers rode through the beautiful streets of Diani and Ukunda making the community feel part of the continental event.