The latest of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) (the world governing body of cycling) World Ranking, Capetonian and SACS student, 17-year-old Luke Moir is officially ranked as the number one Junior Boy in the World for the Cross Country Olympic (XCO) Mountain Biking discipline as of the start of the 2020 season.
The ranking system is based on races across the World over a year in which riders can earn UCI Points. To ensure fairness, the number of races within an individual country that one can gain points as well as by the number of races that you can accumulate points towards your overall score are restricted. Riders can accumulate points from their National Championships, Continental Championships, as well as Junior World Series Races which are spread across the globe.
A big boost to Luke’s ranking (See: https://www.uci.org/mountain-bike/rankings) was finishing in fifth place (despite having a puncture in the last lap) at the 2019 World Championships held in August in Montreal, Canada.
Luke is hoping to maintain a top-five ranking during the season to ensure a front-row start at this year’s World Championships to be held in Albstad, Germany in June where the focus is on the podium and the coveted title of Junior World Champion. Luke’s longer-term goals include representing South Africa as an Olympic athlete in the discipline.
As a South African competing on the world stage, getting to the start line of internationally ranked races is a challenge on its own. With no assistance from the national federation, it has been the support of family, private donors and sponsors which currently include: Silverback Bikes, Leatt Protective Wear, South Industry Rims, Red Bull, Thule, Enduren, Bike Park Constantia Uitsig and Skullcandy, that have assisted Luke in reaching this achievement of being ranked the top Junior XCO rider in the World.
Luke has a modest nature off the bike but switches on beast mode once his leg is thrown over the saddle of any bike be it XCO, Enduro or a jump bike. Following a stringent training progamme from his coaches at Sports Science Institute, Luke can often be seen doing a number of intervals on the hills of Tokai baffling other riders at the speed he can ascend and then leaving them speechless at the effortlessness style and speed that he can descend the technical trails.
Luke is building himself a great following across his social media platforms including a “Fan Page” that was started by some friends. As a young athlete, Luke is balancing training, racing, sponsor obligations, school life, friends and family (being a middle of three boys) whilst remaining fiercely focused at his task on hand which is building up to the World Championship in June.
Parties interested in partnering with Luke on his venture, please contact his agent, Tyrone Rawlins at OneMovement Events and Marketing:
tyrone@onemovement.co.za
You can follow Luke’s progress on social media here: Instagram:@Luke_Moir_;Facebook: Luke Moir.
