Violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has not stopped one cyclist from continuing training, due to help from a charity.
Violence erupted in the city of Goma last month after the M23 rebel group seized control of the area which has now led to more than 178,000 people being forced to flee. The United Nations recently called the crisis a “dire humanitarian situation” as the violence continued to escalate. The BBC has reported that 700 people in the city were killed and close to 3,000 injured. On Tuesday, a unilateral ceasefire was declared by M23 and other rebel groups.
Cycling Weekly is unable to name the rider and his club for safety reasons, but video footage shared with CW shows him riding on an indoor Zwift setup and training using a Wahoo heart rate monitor, provided to him by Team Africa Rising.
In collaboration with Zwift and Wahoo, the organisation has supplied training equipment to riders across Africa. The gear received by the unnamed rider in Goma has meant that he can now continue to train while violence rages outside his home
"The last five days have been horrible because of the war," the rider told Cycling Weekly. “My uncle and his son have been killed and my mother’s shop was looted. I haven’t been able to ride my bike and it’s still not safe to ride outside. There is a lot of gunfire near my house."
"But at least with my Zwift and Wahoo equipment supplied by Team Africa Rising I can train in spite of everything."
Team Africa Rising’s Jeremy Ford told Cycling Weekly that being able to continue to train is providing the rider with some semblance of normality amidst the chaos of war.
"We have known several of the cyclists in Goma and the surrounding area for several years," he said. "We recently arranged, through our African activation partnership with Zwift, to get a few dozen riders in Goma onto the Zwift platform, and then provided them with a bunch of the new TRACKR heart rate monitors from our friends at Wahoo.
"Despite the conflict, it’s brilliant to see the riders are committed to their online training and racing programme. It is truly a great example of resilience which we can all learn from."
Goma lies on the border between Congo and Rwanda. Cycling's governing body, the UCI recently said there are currently no plans to change the location of the scheduled Road World Championships in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, in September despite the ongoing violence in the region.
"The ongoing conflict is confined to the DRC, and Rwanda remains entirely safe for tourism and business," the UCI said. "We hope for a swift and peaceful resolution of the situation. The UCI wishes to emphasise that sport, and cycling in particular, are powerful ambassadors for peace, friendship, and solidarity."
