Windhoek — Not even the absence of last year's surprise winner Costa Seibeb or seasoned cyclist Dan Craven will dampen the spirits of local cyclists ahead of the much-awaited 28th edition of the annual Nedbank Cycle Challenge, slated for Windhoek next weekend.

With barely more than a week before action gets underway, this year's edition of the popular annual cycle challenge promises to surpass all previous editions, with a record entries of about 1 500 cyclists, while inquiries from prospective participants are still pouring in.

This year's event promises to offer cyclists some exciting challenges, since they will be challenging each other in road races over 20, 35, 75 and 100 km, but the official route for the raod events will only be announced next weekend.

This weekend, local cycling lovers will be in for a real treat when the Nedbank MTB Mountain Biking race takes centre stage tomorrow, which will take bikers through the rocky mountains of Windhoek for over 15, 30 and 60 km.

Although entries have already closed for the mountain bike event, willing participants can however still register on the Nedbank website before 7pm today. Besides a record entry of 400 bikers, Nedbank also roped in experts to provide professional race-timing services during the course of the race.

"This year's challenge to all my fellow countrymen is to cycle for a greener Namibia, that's why Nedbank resolved to introduce the Nedbank Mountain Bike Challenge, with the hope of giving back to the community in a more responsible manner and also to give our cyclists a chance to give back to the environment," said Nebank Managing Director, Erastus Hoveka, during the launch of the 28th Nedbank Cycle Challenge at Daan Viljoen in Windhoek yesterday.