Namibian cyclist, Mellissa Hinz, says her dream is to one day see female cyclists compete toe-to-toe against their male counterparts during club competitions.

In an interview with Nampa recently, Hinz, who competes for the Food Lovers Market Ladies team, said the current competition in the women’s category is not preparing them for what they will experience in professional racing.

“We are simply not a large enough elite women peloton to push each other to our limits to grow fast enough for the world competitive stage,” she said.

Hinz added that at this stage, she hopes that women can get an opportunity to race against men in Namibia club races to get pushed beyond their limits, which will help women learn racing skills at a much faster pace.

“Until the elite woman peloton has grown in numbers, we need to find creative ways to get women stronger and more competition ready for the world stage. If we don’t have the different categories during club competition in Namibia, this will allow us to experience fierce and aggressive racing, which in turn will prepare us for racing against the rest of the world,” Hinz said.

The national women’s 2020 time trial champion said she competes in mountain bike but her love is road race cycling and therefore would like to see woman cyclists mentored and supported at an early age.

“I would like to see equal opportunities for women in cycling. I would like to see more women coaches,” said Hinz, stating that she is prepared to provide mentorship and coaching in road racing in Namibia.

Hinz also called on female cyclists to keep on riding strong and not shy away from competing over the borders, whether in elite or age categories, because the more they are, the better.

Meanwhile, Michelle Doman, who also riders in the same team as Hinz, told this agency that women cyclists in Namibia need more opportunities to compete internationally.

“The men are usually sent in big numbers and I am truly convinced that our women would perform above expectation if given the opportunity,” said Domain who stated that Namibia has talent in the women’s road racing category and it puts a smile on her face to see more women lining up for a race.

Namibia Cycling Federation (NCF) President, Axel Thiessen, told this agency on Sunday that they have never received such an ‘official’ request from female riders, and therefore he cannot provide an NCF Exco decision or answer.

“Seeing the ladies’ idea, integrating a women’s race into a male elite race will not allow the ladies a fair race. Doing so will benefit the female rider to use the male race at their best advantage (slipstreaming), which is in principle, not a fair race,” he said.

Thiessen added that he would therefore rather recommend building up the elite women’s category races.

“I discussed with the African Cycling Confederation in Cairo recently to get visiting African ladies’ teams to for instance to come to compete in our Pupkewitz Tour de Windhoek,” Thiessen said, adding that the elite women team successfully competed in the 2022 Cape Town Cycle Tour and that is what they need to build upon

Source: The Namibian Press Agency