Cycling to crown new champ Sat

Ghana cycling is preparing to crown a new champion on Saturday as the three-day Cowbell Cycling League starts tomorrow at 9.00 a.m. at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The sport lost its most dominant rider and serial champion, Samuel Anim, last August when he died in a road accident on the Aburi Mountains. Anim’s absence has created a massive void ahead of the Ghana Cycling Federation's flagship tournament.

The road race, expected to be a very competitive scramble for team, as well as individual honours, will begin on a solemn note with a minute silence being held in honour of the departed 2014 SWAG Cyclist of the Year.

The demise of the 26-year-old has presented many contenders with the opportunity to break his dominance over the sport.

The opening day of the race will see cyclists from 12 clubs race in a 90-kilometre (km) loop from the Accra Sports Stadium to Winneba. On Friday, the cyclists will again race in an 85 km loop from the Accra Sports Stadium to Mamfe and back.

The final stage of the race will be held on Saturday at Mantse Agbona near Bukom in Accra where the cyclists will mount an assault on an 80-kilometre Criterial course.

Saturday's final will be preceded by a mass cycling event reserved for amateur cyclists from all across the Greater Accra Region.

The Technical Director of the Ghana Cycling Federation, Shabaan Nohammed, has tipped three cyclists namely last year's first runner-up Isaac Sackey (Quick-Step Club), Anthony Boakye (River Park, Sunyani) and Abdul Razak Mumin (River Park, Kumasi) are favourites to win the race which covers a total of 175 kilometres.