Nino Schurter inspires local riders

Nino Schurter, mountain biking superstar from Switzerland, has been thoroughly enjoying his first-ever trip to Namibia.

The 38-year-old Schurter is without a doubt the biggest name in the history of cross-country mountain biking.

At the Olympic Games, he has won gold at Rio 2016, silver at London 2012 and bronze at Beijing 2008.

Since 2009 the Swiss rider has won the UCI World Championship ten times, while adding nine UCI World Cup overall series wins (most recently in 2003).

World governing body the UCI stated in a race report in June this year: “Nino Schurter is the Greatest Of All Time. His record in cross-country Olympic (XCO) is unmatched, and he continues to win, defy expectations and extend records. At the age of 38, his victory at Val di Sole (Italy) last weekend was his 36th win and 80th podium at UCI World Cup level.

“A teenage Schurter joined the team of 17-time UCI World Cup winner Thomas Frischknecht 21 years ago. The following year, 2004, he was crowned UCI junior world champion. He was a three-time UCI U23 world champion and turned professional in 2007 when he joined what is now SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing Team.

“His longevity makes him a special figure, and the fact that he’s been at the top of the game for almost all of those years is what makes his status legendary.

Schurter and his girlfriend Malene Degn (27), who is also a world-class mountain biker and multiple national champion of Denmark, have been enthusiastically posting scenes from their Namibian desert holiday on social media.

Schurter and Degn respectively have 741 000 and 75 000 followers on Instagram, and 599 000 and 43 000 followers on Facebook. Schurter’s behind-the-scenes training videos on YouTube are also a valuable source for many ambitious riders.

This week, Schurter and Degn met the local Cymot cycling racing team and other role players at a special gathering of invited guests from the Namibian sports and cycling community at the recently opened Cymot Hilltop in Kleine Kuppe.

The main guests also shared their thoughts in a Q&A session hosted by Cymot group chairman and current vice-president of the Namibia Cycling Federation, Axel Theissen.

Schurter spoke about some of his pre-race approaches and emphasised his philosophy that racing and training should be fun. He stated that he intends to continue as a professional rider at the highest level for at least one more year and that he would gladly visit Namibia again.

Namibian MTB champion and two-time Olympian Alex Miller could not be in attendance, since he travelled directly to Johannesburg for this coming weekend’s Ride Johburg 94.7 road race. Miller (23) and his professional race partner Matthew Beers (RSA) won last weekend’s three-day FNB Wines2Whales mountain bike tour in the Western Cape.

Both Piet Swiegers and Frank Snyman, who respectively won last weekend’s 50-59 and 60-69 years age group races at the Wines2Whales along with South African teammates Robert Sim and Jimmy Mills, were also in attendance as memories were made in photos with the Swiss Olympic icon.