So the national champ has not been selected for Worlds... Typical CSA idiotic antics or normal protocol being followed? This from www.cyclesport.co.za: The word ‘vision’ is defined by The New English Usage Dictionary as ‘the ability to anticipate the future and plan accordingly’. Judging by the way in which the national selectors of Cycling South Africa (CSA) go about the selection of teams, this word (vision) apparently does not form part of their vocabulary. If it did, they would have selected the current South African marathon champion, Cherise Stander (Momentum-Toyota), for the team that will be competing at the UCI World Marathon Championship in France next month. It is important that there should be explicit criteria when it comes to the selection of national teams. This helps both the riders and their coaches to understand what is expected of them. But it is a sad day for the future of any sport when its selection process becomes so rigid that the selectors do not want to deviate from it under any circumstances. Stander is the first to admit that she has failed to meet the selection criteria because of her road-cycling commitments. If the selectors bothered at all to listen to what she said minutes after winning the SA marathon title in Wellington, they would have realized that her goals as a professional cyclist are changing. “I am going to compete in mountain-bike marathons more often and scale down on road racing. My overriding goal is to win a medal for South Africa at the 2014 UCI World Marathon Championship in Pietermaritzburg.” Anyone who has any vision would realize that South African cycling could only gain by selecting Stander. No rider can just rock up at a World Championship and expect to win a medal. The selectors’ reasoning that Stander is not experienced enough to compete at international level, brings to mind the familiar argument about what was first, the chicken or the egg. How can Stander hope to gain international experience if the CSA does not support her by giving her opportunities to compete internationally? The selectors conveniently forget that Stander, as a road cyclist, finished third overall at last year’s SA Marathon Championship in KwaZulu-Natal. This accomplishment made her one of the most consistent performers at the SA Marathon Championship since 2011. She has also won a number of smaller mountain-bike races, for example the Grape Escape, during the past 12 months. The selectors seem to have forgotten that Stander’s training partner is her husband, Burry, who is currently one of the world’s best mountain bikers. As the saying goes ‘Watch this space”. With Burry Stander’s support, Cherise will be a major force in SA mountain biking by next year. Taking the above into account, one can only come to the conclusion that the CSA selectors act like programmed robots who select teams without due consideration of the relevant factors. It is the classic shotgun approach. Just select a group of riders and start praying that somewhere somebody will win something. With South Africa being the host of the 2014 World Championship, one would have expected that there would be some strategy in place to ensure that a local rider would win a medal. Without detracting from the abilities of the three riders who will represent South Africa in France, it is debatable whether they will still be good enough to race internationally in two years’ time. Yolandé Speedy is coming to the end of her professional career. She has reached the stage where she can say: “I’ve been there, done it and have the T-shirt to prove it”. The 37-year-old Theresa Ralph is undoubtedly one the gutsiest riders on the South African mountain-biking scene, but she is the mother of two young children and it will require major personal sacrifices from her to stay competitive until 2014. Samantha Sanders is a talented rider but the reality is that she has not yet won a major mountain-bike race, for example one of the MTN events. If Sanders is included in the ‘vision’ that the selectors may have for 2014 World Championship, there should be definite plans in place to ensure that she receives appropriate support to keep on improving. The reality is that it will not happen –at least not while the current CSA selectors are in command.
