Moolman-Pasio, Gerber crowned African Champions in road races [updated]

Olympian Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and junior cyclist Monique Gerber were crowned African Continental Champions in the elite and junior women’s road races in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, today.

Photo Credit: Raymond Cox

Moolman-Pasio, who represents Momentum Toyota Cycling Team in South Africa and races for the Lotto Belisol Ladies team whilst in Europe, added the continental title to her list of accolades this year in the 93km 63km race. The finish was close with Moolman-Pasio, Vera Adrian from Namibia (silver), and Wehazit Kidane from Eritrea (bronze) all recording the same finish time of 1 hour 53 minutes 24 seconds. An-Li Kachelhoffer finished in fourth place, missing the podium by 33 seconds.

Junior cyclist Gerber crossed the finish line in first place ahead of Ebtesam Zayed Ahmed (Egypt) and teammate Mikayla Oliver, who claimed a bronze medal, in a time of 56 minutes and 21 seconds. The junior women raced 63km 31km and compatriots Heidi Dalton and Andri Coetzee finished in 4^th and 7^th places respectively, recording the same finish time as Gerber.

In the Junior Men’s race, Ivan Venter, who races in the Nuwater team at home, claimed a bronze medal in the 93km 63km race, also recording the same finish time as the race winner. Moroccan Abderrahim Zahiri took the Championship title in 01:33:03, with Abderrahmane Mansouri (Algeria) in second place. Venter’s compatriots Morne van Niekerk finished within the same time in 6^th place, with Nickolas Dlamini finishing 10^th, 3 seconds off the pace. Jandrich Kotze finished in 17^th place.

The Elite/U23 men’s road race takes place tomorrow.

* Update (5 December 2013): Distances corrected