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Faith Mutema Sports Reporter—

ALL is set for the first edition of the Tour de Machipisa cycling race which will be held on Sunday at Machipisa Shopping Centre in Harare’s high-density suburb of Highfield.The event was initially supposed to take place last weekend but was rescheduled to this Sunday due to the rainy weather and it will see the participation of different age-groups from 10-year-olds to professional riders with the main focus on youth engagement in sporting activities.

Registration will begin at 8am on the day and the event is expected to start at 9am.

One of the event organisers from the Kids Aviation Association, Lawrence Madamombe, said the participants are prepared and event is still expected to yield some good results.

“We hope for the best this weekend and everything has been set for the event to commence.

“We are seeing a lot of interested participants and we hope this will raise more hopes for the sport to be widely recognised locally.

“This is all for the youth of tomorrow. The Kids Aviation Association and Cycling Zimbabwe have joined hands to help upgrade the standards of the youth as a way of giving back to the community,” said Madamombe.

The race will see the participants cycling a 2,7km distance starting from Mushandirapamwe Hotel opposite Gwanzura Stadium, along Jabavu Drive up to the Main Street.

The president of Cycling Zimbabwe, Andrew Donaldson, said this event is to raise more awareness of the sport to the youth and engage them into more recreation activities.

“This event is more of a demonstration of what a race of cycling is like. We are hoping to have riders from BMX mountain biking and road cycling participating and taking our sport to the communities that would not normally be associated with it. We want to show everyone that cycling is, infact, a sport that anyone can do on any bicycle and it is a great outdoor sport that is enjoyable for the entire family.

“CZ has been an active sport federation for many years and we are looking to grow the sport and have as many active cyclists as we can and we hope to see many participants joining in this fun event and getting a taste of how enjoyable the sport really is,” said the CZ president.

The event will see the handing out of prizes for the winners in the different categories from medals, hampers to cash and more than 60 participants are expected to take part.

Registration fee is $2 and the Kids Aviation Association is willing to pay for participants who cannot afford to pay.