Zimbabwe Cycling Federation reformed as Cycling Zimbabwe (CZ) is the national

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

of cycle racing in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Cycling Zimbabwe is a member of the Confédération Africaine de Cyclisme and is also affiliated to the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee.

History

Due to its warm climate, cycling in Zimbabwe has always been a popular past time, supported by a thriving Road, BMX and MTB club circuit, Zimbabwe Cycling has over the years punched well above its weight in terms of its achievements internationally. Zimbabwe first gained prominence on the world stage when shortly after independence from colonial Britain sent a road and track team to the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

held in Moscow. The team consisted of Michael McBeath, John Musa and David Gillow – (the latter's daughter Shara Gillow now riding for FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope). Throughout the 1980
Graham Cockerton
competed as a professional in South Africa riding in the well known Rapport Tour. In 1988 Zimbabwe again sent a squad consisting of Pierre Gouws and Gary Mandy to the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

in South Korea. In 1991, Gary Mandy turned from rider to team manager/coach and took Steve Draver, Kurt Begemann, Andrew Allen and Justin Marabini to the 5th, All Africa Games, in Cairo Egypt. The team won the bronze medal for the 100 km Team Time Trial, in 2 hrs and 12 minutes, using standard road bikes with clip on aero bars and disc wheels. This same year, the federation funded a Junior Team to the World Junior Cycling Championships in Colorado, USA. This team comprised Alan Harrison, Nathan Jones, Jason Whitehead and Gary Ohara. After their success in Egypt, Zimbabwe fielded many National Teams to races such as The Tour Of Mauritius and South Africa's Giro del Capo. These teams gave birth to Zimbabwe's first European Pro Timothy Jones (cyclist) who competed for Zimbabwe at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta USA. Tim Jones won the Giro del Capo in 1998. Zimbabwe produced another climbing specialist at this time, Chris Hoffman, who was National Road Race and Time Trial champion from 1997 to 1999, and drafted by the Ster-Kinekor cycling team in South Africa. Hoffman then went on to race professionally with Tim Jones developing him in Europe, and represented Zimbabwe at the 2000 World Championships. In 2005 former World Champion Belgian Roger De Vlaeminck sent a scouting team to the country with a view to creating Zimbabwe's first ever Cyclocross team, a team was selected which raced in the Under 23 World Cyclocross championships held in St Wendel Germany with this being covered by

VTM (TV channel) VTM or Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij ( English: ''Flemish Television Company'') is the main commercial television station in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking northern region of Belgium) and forms part of a network of channels owned by DPG Medi ...

in their popular cycling reality television show Allez Allez. 2006 saw Linda Davidson win bronze in the time trial at the African Road Championships held in Port Louis,

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

2007 saw Zimbabwe further make history when they sent a 9 member squad to the very first African Mountain Bike Championships that were held in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. Zimbabw
fared well
with Margie Gibson attaining Gold in the Veteran Ladies Cross Country and Trevor Volker Bronze in the SV Cross Country races.

Antipas Kwari Antipass Kwari (born 1975) is a Zimbabwean cyclist. He was the 2005 Zimbabwe mountain bike champion and represented his country at the 2007 African Mountainbike Championships which were held in Windhoek, Namibia where he placed 8th. In doing so ...

by finishing 8th in the Elite & U23 Race ensured qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games– a race in which he finished 48th in the men's cross country. In 2015, David Martin, then-president of the Zimbabwe Cycling Federation, and five other cyclists attempted to set a new world record for the fastest human-powered crossing of the African content. Earlier that year, national cycling champion Bright Chipongo spoke out against Cycling Zimbabwe leadership for excluding black cyclists from competing at the African Continental Cycling Championships. More recently Zimbabwe has been represented internationally by Skye Davidson who raced at the 2019 UCI Elite World Championships which were held in Yorkshire, England. In 2022 Cycling Zimbabwe undertook a rebranding exercise with a new look and feel being applied to its organisation's logo with the new branding being in use at the 2023 National Road Cycling Championships that were held in Bulawayo.

References

External links

Cycling Zimbabwe Official Website
{{International cycling National members of the African Cycling Confederation Sports governing bodies in Zimbabwe Cycle racing in Zimbabwe Organizations with year of establishment missing