This Sunday the Sierra Leone National Cycling Association will organize the 5th edition of the Cycling Lion route championship sponsored by Armen Aslanian (De Lion) of Lion star company.
The president of the association Winston D.C Crowther said that this competition had been going on for a while but because of the rebel war there was a break and the Lion Star Company that was sponsoring the competition had to go away.
After the company returned to the country about a year they decided to continue their sponsorship of the cycling association and on Sunday the competition will take place at the Lion route which will start at Family kingdom, Aberdeen Bridge, Aberdeen Road, Wilkinson road Lumley beach road back to Family Kingdom for five times covering about 61 kilometers.
President Crowther said that the Lion Race is the biggest race so far for the association. “When you talk about the 90s during those years you always witness the best bicycle race and during that period that was when the sport started to develop in the country.”
He disclosed that the sponsor De Lion won the first two competitions as he too was a cyclist of high standard and has competed at the Olympic Games on several occasions for his native country.
Apart from sponsoring the Lion route he has also sponsored the association to take part in another competition in Guinea and from that time the discipline started to create serious impact in the country.
President Crowther said that he is expecting about 45 cyclists to take part and the winners are going to have attractive cash prizes for the different categories.
He revealed that during the race a former champion from the South of Germany Andre will also take part in the competition and the race is going to be tough. “We are going to see a real rider during the competition, and this will be a very good way of testing the cyclists” as they have international competitions to participate in before the end of the year.
He stated that De Lion likes to ride a bicycle and that is why he has also decided to come on board to sponsor the sports and appeal to Sierra Leoneans to come out in their thousands to support the cyclists during the race.