55 year old woman cyclist dazzles crowd in Tour De Nchalo
By Mphatso Malidadi - Daily Times Newspaper

A 55-year-old woman cyclist stole the show at this year's tnm Tour de Nchalo on Saturday though she ended sixth in the 5.5km race.

The charitable event, which was the second since its inception last year, was sponsored by tnm at K1.5 million and is run by Nchalo Lions Club Chidyamoto, a mother of seven and grandmother to four children, was last year's runner-up in this category. Enifa Chinkango won the women's championship while Maria Manuel and Evelyn Bobo ended second and third respectively.

In men's category, Illovo Classic champion Jonathan Kaiya failed to. make an impression but instead it was his Blantyre Cycling Club team-mates who emerged champions in two categories of the race that recognised ordinary Humber bikes.

The race, which took place within the sugar estate of Illovo, was over shadowed by lack of timing as officials did not record times covered by the competitors. Despite that, Kaiya, who failed to make it into top 10 after competing in the 14.2 km distance, blamed his downfall on his faulty bicycle.

"The chain was getting loose time and again. I took the lead but the bicycle let me down," Kaiya said. "Using ordinary bikes is difficult because of absence of gears. Still more the race has also proved that there is a lot of talent that is going into unnoticed." His colleague Missi Kanthumba won the championship in the category that attracted cyclists within the ages of 18 to 29. Kathumba was followed by Samu Mwaluka and Gonani John on second and third respectively.

In another category that involved cyclists aged between 30 to 39 years, saw Kaiya's club mate Leonard Tsoyo becoming champion. Tsoyo dethroned Thomas Mose, who finished as runner up but he arrived four behind Tsoyo. Sandikonda Chiudzu ended third.

Men over 40 years also had a chance to cover a distance of 5.5km and the champion was George Kontinyu while J. Makuluni ended second with Hanlek Majawa finishing third. The top three winners got different prizes ranging from flat TV screens, mountain bikes, Hi-fi systems, electronic and manual sewing machines. From position four to five the prizes ranged from mattresses to humber bikes while all cyclists from position five to 10 got cellphones each.

Nchalo Lions Club president Edward Msumba said they organise the event to raise funds to help the community around Nchalo. "There are a number of projects which we would want to undertake," Msumba said. "We would like to refurbish the Montfort Hospital as well as construct school blocks in Nkhwazi Village because most children at these sites learn under trees." Msumba applauded the sponsors tnm for supporting the course and he also paid tribute to Illovo management for hosting the event despite tight schedule the sugar manufacturing Firm was in. He said this year's event was astonishing as number of participants increased from 301 to 481.

tnm Communications Manager Wilma Chalulu said they sponsored the event to help community. "We are truly Malawian company and we want to give back to the community," she said. "Through the event we hope that members are offered a medium of interaction and also platform to exercise so that they should live a better life." Chalulu promised that tnm would be back next year after they were impressed with the turn up.

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