Songo.info rider profile: Thokozile Snono
Name: Thokozile Snono
Nickname: Thoko
Date of birth: 1996-08-16
Age: 14
School: A.F. Louw and Grade: 7
Where do you live: In Kayamandi
BMX Achievements: N/A
BMX Goals: To be a national champ!
Team: Songo.info
Sponsors:
When did you start riding BMX and who got you into it? In August 2009! I had my friends talking about it all the time and I went and joined.
Can you remember what your first race meeting was like and how you felt? Yes! It was in Kayelitsha on the 24-09! I was very excite and very nervous.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now? Racing as a professional!
Who inspires you to race and why? Sharlene! Seeing her race at that age gives me a big hope that I would make it as well.
How would you describe yourself? I am a self motivator!
What training do you to keep fit and in form? Running and riding on the track and many sit-ups.
What won’t you leave home without? My mom’s food!
What are your goals for the BMX season and the future? I want to win every race that I enter in.
What goes through your mind on the start line? To win the race!
Who would you like to meet and why? Sifiso! He had much bad luck in the races but he always come back very strong.
What does it take to become a top rider? Hard training; commitment; Team spirit; respect and listen to my coach.
What is your ultimate dream? Is to finish my studies and to be a world champ.
What do you do to relax? I stretch!
What is the best part of your day? School and training secessions!!!
What other talents do you have? Running!
What advice would you give to other girls wanting to start BMX? Just come and join it is much fun and you get to give the boys a ride of their money.
What music do you enjoy? RNB and House Music
If you were the president for a day, what changes would you make? I would build house for all the families of the kids from my BMX club.
What are you most proud of? My school work and when I did well in the race and when I beat the boys on the hard session.
What can’t you live without? My parents and BMX!
Hobbies? I like dancing!
Your favorite food? Meat!
Songo.info Rider Profiles: Zola Ngxakeni
We will be doing a few riders profiles on the kids involved with the Songo.info project moving forward. First up is Zola Ngxakeni. Enjoy!
Date of birth: 1997-11-13
Age: 12
School: Cloetesville Primary and Grade: 6
Where do you live: Kayamandi
BMX Achievements: 2nd place on the Heritage Cup in Kayelitsha 2009 and 2nd place on the Canal walk cup in Kayelitsha
BMX Goals: To win the gold in Olympics one day
Team: Songo
Sponsors: N/A
When did you start riding BMX? In August 2008 and who got you into it? I was playing with my friend and I saw some kids in the track and went there and I joined them.
Can you remember what your first race meeting was like? Yes! How you felt? It was the opening of the Kayamandi BMX track and I raced with my friends and Sifiso Ntlapho I beat him and our picture was on the Sunday times. I know he let me but I was so happy!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now? I see my self a professional representing South Africa in Olympic and common world games.
Who inspires you to race and why? Sifiso is my inspiration! He comes from the Township just like me and gives me hope that I will also make it.
How would you describe yourself? As people’s person!
What training do you to keep fit and in form? Riding in the track and running.
What won’t you leave home without? TV
What are your goals for the BMX season and the future? Wining all the races including the nationals.
What goes through your mind on the start line? Wining the race!
Who would you like to meet and why? Christoph Sauser helped us to have the track!
What does it take to become a top rider? Train hard and lessoning to the coach!!
What is your ultimate dream? Is to be professional BMX rider!
What do you do to relax? Watch Television!
What is the best part of your day? Going to the track!
What other talents do you have? Running!
What advice would you give to others wanting to start BMX? That BMX is good for everyone and it will help you in everything.
If you were a superhero who would you be and why?
What music do you enjoy? Kwaito Music!
If you were the president for a day, what changes would you make? I would build house for everyone!
What are you most proud of? My school work!
What can’t you live without? I can’t live without BMX I love it.
Hobbies? Dancing
Your favourite food? I like African Salad
Xterra South Africa 2010
On Saturday the Songo.info team were in Grabouw to participate in the 2010 Xterra South African Championships. Race report by Songo Fipaza and official race images to follow shortly. Thank you to Michael Meyer and his team from Stillwater Sports for their support on the day.
We left Kayamandi at 19:00 on Friday and we made a stop at Pick’n Pay to get some food for the night.
The drive to Grabouw did not feel long as the kids we so happy and talking a lot on the taxi. We arrived at the Grabouw Country Club at 20:50 and offloaded our bikes and parked them in the medical tent. We then put up our tents, had dinner and all of us got to bed early as it was a long day coming up.
Our day started at 06:15 as we went to support the start of the trail run at 06:30. This was followed by breakfast and registration and all the kids were in good spirit and ready to have a goodtime. We had 10 international students from the University Stellenbosch swimming for us as part of the Songo.info teams. They arrived at 09:30 and had enough time to meet up with all their team mates for the day.
The 1.5km swim started at 11:00 and Deanna Price an American student was out first and she was in the top 20 and she tag Ndiphe. Kaitlin Kitchen also came out and tags Siphenathi and he was out on his mountain bike leg chasing Ndiphe. Melody Knight ; Carien Van Caam; Callie Cutler; JP Philipp they also came out following one other and Sipho was the 6th one to go from my kids and he was first to come back from my kids and tag Litha who went out as if he was running 100m. Litha ran 46 minutes for the 10km and that was a great team.
Sipho was followed by Thembisile; Ndiphe and Siphenathi on the Mountain bike leg. On the run it was Sandiso, Azukile who finished 10 minutes after Litha. The 3 girls ran very well and that was Daphne; Yolisw and Lavisa.
Odwa had some mechanical problems and he was out there for a long time and he was the last one from my group to come back and tag Elijah who ran 45 minutes for the 10km leg.
It was a great weekend for my kids and they all enjoy it very much.
Thank you very much to the following people who swim for us: Jay Philipp; Kaitlin Kitchen; Melody Knight; Deanna Price; Christina Hertner; Carien van Caam; Philip Gilman; Callie Cutler and Philipp Moehring.
Thank you very much to Mike Leslie from the ISOS for organizing transport for my swimmers.
Many thanks to Stillwater Sports for the entries we truly appreciate.
Thank you very much to all of our supports out there you’re truly making a difference in the lives of the children of Kayamandi.
Thank you,
Songo Fipaza
Xterra South Africa
This coming weekend 20 of our boys and girls from Songo.info will be taking part in the South African Xterra Championships held in Grabouw, Western Cape. This will be their second time at this event as members of different teams and look forward to bringing you some visuals and reports early next week.
Songo.info rides against TIK abuse in the Cape Town 99′er
This past weekend Songo got to take 5 of the boys with him to do a ride against drug abuse at the 12th Annual 99′er Cycle Race in Cape Town. The distance covered was 108km which was a new feat for some of the boys but a great indication of the progress that has been made in their fitness and ability. It was also the first outing for our awesome new bike trailer that has been provided by one of our new partners, Contego Asset Management.
