Ian Boswell heads into SBT GRVL this Sunday as last year’s runner up on the men’s 142-mile black course. In addition to racing objectives, he is focused on mentoring four East African competitors, who will use the event to pave the way, so to speak, to future opportunities in cycling.
Kenyans Sule Kangangi, John Kariuki and Nancy Akinyi join Jordan Schleck from Uganda as part of the Fursa presented by Wahoo programme, making their trip to the United States and a special opportunity to race three signature gravel races, beginning with SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The four athletes will also compete at Gravel Worlds in Nebraska on August 20 and Vermont Overland on August 27.
Boswell travelled to Kenya last June to compete in the inaugural Migration Gravel Race, where he finished fourth in the gruelling four-day stage race across the wilds of the Maasai Mara. It was the first gravel race held in East Africa, founded by the AMANI Project. This year Kariyuki and Kangangi won the men’s edition of the gruelling event.
“I didn’t make it back this year, but we met all these athletes last year. We got to spend a lot of time together in Kenya at that race. And then I just wanted to provide a little bit of additional support,” Boswell told Cyclingnews about how the Fursa programme was born.
“That’s kind of the beauty of cycling, you know, that you get to come to the US and race against the best athletes in the world. But equally, you know, the cultural experience of coming here is great.”
The word ‘fursa’ translates from Swahili to mean opportunity and describes what the US-based smart fitness and training company aims to achieve with a partnership with the AMANI Project, a non-profit organisation that promotes inclusivity in cycling and creates opportunities for riders based in Africa.
US races represent the cream-of-the-crop for global gravel racing and Boswell said it has taken more than 18 months to make ‘fursa’ a reality.
“I went over last June to race the Migration Gravel Race in Kenya. For us Americans and some European athletes, it was fairly easy to get entry into Kenya, a little bit of paperwork, some COVID testing and then we were in Kenya. It’s a different pathway from East Africa,” Boswell, who works as an athlete manager for Wahoo as his full-time career, told Cyclingnews.
“These athletes faced hurdles, as every opportunity that opens, there’s something holding them back. They weren’t able to get…
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