watch four times Tour de France Winner Chris Froome tackled a newly constructed pump track Friday alongside local Rwandan runners, in front of a raucous crowd of school children, gave a glimpse of what Israel’s Field of Dreams is all about-Premier Tech .
The Field of Dreams, a project built to help children in Rwanda ride bikes, was launched on Friday, with team co-owner Sylvan Adams and Rwandan dignitaries in attendance. The venue consists of the pump track and a one-kilometre course in Bugesera, southern Rwanda, both of which were raced on Friday.
It is the culmination of the first phase of the team’s plan, through its Racing for Change initiative, to help children in Bugesera, and further afield in Rwanda, through cycling. Cycling is everything in this part of the Central African country, with bikes used for everything from hospital visits to trips to school.
Adams, addressing weekly cycling Friday on the track, clarified that this was not the end: “We are just getting started.”
“The next phase is a building,” he said, “which will house the academy, which means we’ll bring in coaches, bike mechanics and other facilities like housing, so we can do people from outside this region are coming in. It’s really going to be the Rwandan cycling academy.”
1,200 supporters contributed to the project, along with funding from Adams, Israel-Premier Tech co-owner Ron Baron, and other sponsors. He is part of the Community of Hope, an education center for children founded by Serge Gasore, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide.
The track’s impact was already evident, with the local Bugesera women’s team and other young Rwandans delighted with their new pumping track, alongside Froome. With bikes and time, one can only imagine how important this is to the local community.
(Image credit: Noa Arnon)
Liliane Kayirebwa, vice-president of the Rwandan cycling federation, FERWACY, and president of the Bugesera women’s team, said: “Cycling has helped the girls so much, because we are helping them to study and to cycle , and now we have so many sponsors that they have helped us with bikes, jerseys and shoes.
“They [Israel-Premier Tech] gave us an English teacher, and they pay mechanics and a trainer for the girls. They built the field of dreams, it will help us as a team and the community in general.”
“Cycling is part of the culture here,” she continued. “We use bicycles for transportation, everyday transportation, to go to school, to the hospital, to the market. Every family has a bicycle. It will help our children to try to ride as professionals, and this pump track is the only one in Africa, it will help us a lot.”
There are currently eight girls in the Bugesera cycling team, one of whom, Aline Uwera, finished on the podium at the African Continental Championships last year, the first Rwandan to do so.
(Image credit: Noa Arnon)
This week, the team received Factor bikes, as well as Israel-Premier Tech kits, and the team’s Ekoi helmets and sunglasses.
Another team member is Claudine. She explained: “Cycling has changed my life in a very significant way, it has made me more popular in the community than before. Cycling makes me stronger, makes me more confident.
“I love sprinting. I like to go fast,” she said. His family lives on only $5 a month; without the Racing for Change initiative, it’s unlikely she would have ever been able to own her own bike, let alone race.
It’s not out of the question that some of these riders will make the jump to Israel Premier Tech Roland, the Women’s WorldTour team, or at least its Under-23 development team, possibly as early as next year.
“Some of these girls are just getting started in terms of experience,” Adams said. “They have such talented athletes [in Rwanda], and growing in altitude, and all the reasons East Africans are good at endurance sports. They just needed bikes. You need investments, and I hope this will be a model for others.
“I hope we set an example for others. I could see that happen next year, and once they’re in the development team, they get experience, they go to the WorldTour , and the rest is history.”
(Image credit: Noa Arnon)
The bond between Israel-Premier Tech and Rwanda is strong, not just because of cycling, but because of the two countries’ shared history of genocide in the 20th century. It is not 30 years since the Rwandan genocide led to the death of a million people, most of them Tutsis, killed by radical members of the Hutu group.
This was referenced by Adams in his speech opening the pump track: “We are the Jewish people of Israel, and we have an ancient imperative that demands that each of us do something good in the world. We are here today. today because of our values, because of our traditions.
“Rwanda has been through a very difficult time over the last century, just like the Jewish people, we both share, unfortunately, a terrible genocide that happened to each of our people. I feel that we are brothers and sisters together , that’s why we have come back to invest in you, to allow our children to grow up and be children. To the children of Rwanda.
Importantly, Adams emphasized that this was the start of the process, the start of the team’s partnership with the Community of Hope and Rwanda.
“My slogan is ‘I’m just getting started,'” he said. “We’re not going to let you down, we’re here for the long haul, this is just the first step. We’ll be here to support you. We’re just getting started.”