Local mountain biker on the right track
“I am grateful to the Roodepoort Athletics Club, my friends, family, coaches and mountain biking community for supporting me in achieving my goals for 2022."
It’s been a good year for local mountain biker, Leonora Changuion who has been impressive on the mountain trails and recently received her Gauteng Provincial Colours.
The Wilro Park resident admits that this year she has been focusing on competing in the Cross Country Olympics (XCO) which are shorter lap races with very technical sections and very high elevation.
“It was a great year for me; I won the Gauteng XCO series in my age category and came second in the Gauteng Championships.
“I won the SA Nationals XCO series as well and came third at the National Championships. I am extremely grateful to have achieved this in such a short period of time,” said Changuion.
The 46-year-old single mother who has a 14-year-old daughter joined the Roodepoort Athletics Club in 2016 as a runner and focused on training for the Comrades Marathon.
In 2017 she successfully completed the Ultimate Human Race with the friends she made at the club, but due to knee injuries she wasn’t able to continue doing marathons and ultra-marathons.
Changuion bought her first road bike one month after Comrades and after more than two years on the road bike and being an average rider, she bought her first mountain bike in December 2019.
During the Covid-19 lockdown she did some skills training and started developing and improving her mountain bike riding.
“I did my first MTB Race in November 2020 and was shocked by my results of coming first in my age category,” said Changuion.
She works as a business analyst in the wholesale and retail industry, and runs a furniture restoration and retail business called Thinta Furniture on the side.
“I am grateful to the Roodepoort Athletics Club, my friends, family, coaches and mountain biking community for supporting me in achieving my goals for 2022,” said Changuion.
