A few months back, South African gravel and mountain bike racer, Catherine Colyn was selected as one of the Elite women’s field for the prestigious United States off-road racing series, LifeTime Grand Prix. But she needed financial backing to make her participation possible and began her quest to find it. The good news is that she has received the appropriate backing. Here are the details.
Colyn (26) began her cycling career as a road racer whilst dabbling in mountain bike marathons. Her introduction to gravel racing was in 2022 and she immediately took to the discipline, seeing it as the perfect mix of road and mountain bike. Catherine is currently racing for Professional eSports team – Rocacorba Collective which is headed up by South Africas Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and was selected to represent South Africa at Zwift World Championships earlier this year (unfortunately falling ill the week of the event).
Catherine has had her sights set on competing at the Gravel World Cup Series this year however that all changed in December 2022 when she received the news that she had been selected to be part of the prestigious LifeTime Grand Prix Series. Selection was based on a lottery system where riders needed to apply and motivate their need to be invited to the series.
The series is an Elite group of only 35 men (also includes South Africa’s Matthew Beers) and 35 women from around the world competing across some of the biggest off-road biking races in the United States of America. There are seven races in the series, which vary between gravel and mountain biking races with the rider’s top five results counting towards their overall tally and a shot at their share of a large prize purse of $250 000.
“Being selected for the LifeTime Grand Prix has completely changed the direction of my cycling career,” says Catherine.
Through her team Rocacorba Collective, Catherine is supported by Specialized for bikes and gear such as helmets, shoes and tyres as well as Garmin for her computers and indoor training equipment. Powerbar manages her nutrition and Ciovita has her covered in all the clothing to tackle whatever the weather may throw at her.
With all this support, once the elation of receiving the news had settled, reality kicked in that racing internationally is already expensive, committing to four months in America would be a different level of expensive. Being the middle of December and most industries and budgets closed, a crowd funding page was set up where a number of private donors contributed towards the mammoth target which was heart warming to see but still not really making a dent in the end goal. TREAD Media also published an article to increase the awareness of her quest.
Leading into the week of the Cape Town Cycle Tour, Catherine received a call from her agent from OneMovement Management to meet for a coffee subsequently at the Vide e Caffé head office where they committed to support financially towards her campaign of getting to the USA with the added bonus of a coffee account!
Chipping away at the budget bit by bit and making a plan here and there as only South Africans can do to score a free ride or accommodation where they can, the reality of making the full four months in America was creeping closer. Then the phone call came to change it all from Paarl-based Energy Innovation Holdings (EIH) a group of private companies determined to lead the future by being efficient custodians of opportunities that create value.
EIH committed to supporting Catherine financially in such a manner that not only would it see her comfortably being able to spend four months in America giving her the best opportunity to perform but beyond that as well.
“We believe that Catherine’s story represents a South African paradigm, where opportunities to be globally relevant are often missed due to the lack of support for local potential. Our approach to collaboration seeks to take advantage of mutual self-interest that creates value. Collaborating with Catherine on her journey to success presents a unique opportunity to introduce some of our brand concepts in a manner that is relatable,” says Percy van Staden, EIH CEO.
“As they say, ‘It is like riding a bike’. To start-off we are excited to see Catherine go from strength to strength while we align our “Return on Energy” performance indicator with her Cycling Economy data to develop a tool for riders to be more efficient,” added Van Staden.
“A few months ago I would have never thought that I would be sitting here today announcing my first ever title sponsor. This is a complete ‘pinch-me’ moment. I’m really so happy to be working with all my sponsors who wholeheartedly believe in and support me.” Catherine added.
Catherine will be missing the first two races of the series as she prepares in South Africa in which time she will be racing:
28 Apr – Gravel World Cup, Swartberg 100 – Prince Albert
6 May – Race to the Sun – Johannesburg
20 May – Ronde van Riebeek – Western Cape
Catherine is set to leave South Africa on 22 June with her first race on 8 July and returning on the 24 October. Her race schedule whilst in the USA will include:
8 Jul – Crusher in the Tushar – Beaver, Utah
12 Aug – Leadville 100 – Leadville, Colorado
16 Sep – Chequamegon – Cable, Wisconsin
30 Sep – Trinidad, Colorado
21 Oct – Big Sugar Gravel – Bentonville, Arkansas
“I dont think I can say it enough but thank you so much to everyone who believes in me and is supporting me on this journey,” says Catherine.
Source: One Movement Athlete Management
