Rickardo Broxham and Courtney Smith will represent South Africa at the Junior Track World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, from August 15 to 19, Cycling SA announced over the weekend.
Broxham, 17, who rides locally for ProTouch, said getting selected was one of his main focuses at the start of the season.
“It has been a long journey,” he said. “The road world champs route does not specifically suit me, so it was a big focus and I am proud to have pulled it off.”
Rickardo Broxham (pictured) and Courtney Smith will represent South Africa at the Junior Track World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. Photo: Bev McKenna
He said the times he needed to qualify in the individual pursuit were “quite hard” to achieve.
“After riding the times in Bellville earlier this year I was cut out for about a week,” Broxham said. “My legs were so broken afterwards and my focus will truly be on the track event.
“I was there last year and I learnt a lot and this year I am all in.”
Broxham, who hails from Ermelo, said he was going to spend the next few months in Europe to prepare for the championships.
“The plan is to go to Europe for three months where I will take part in the Tour of Ireland before I hopefully go to Switzerland and train with the UCI cycling union to prepare.
“If I am good for track worlds, I might be good for road worlds [September 25 and 27 in Innsbruck, Austria] as well, but I am not going to put too much pressure on myself.”
Smith, also 17, from Durban, who won six medals in all of her six events at the African Continental Track Champs in February, will front up for South Africa in the junior girls category.
