Team Kia eyes Desert Dash glory

As the Nedbank Desert Dash beckons, the KIA Namibia cycling team has set its sights on collecting the silverware in this prestigious event, by entering one Four Man Team, one Two person Mixed Team as well as having two of its top riders competing in the Solo Category.
The Nedbank Desert Dash race will start on Friday 11 December and will have up to575 riders. The event has been grown tremendously over the last couple of years and is considered to be one of the toughest 24 hour single stage races in the world.
The riders have to complete the 369 kilometre long stretch from Windhoek to Swakopmund in less than 24 hours.
After participating as a two-man team the last two years, Martin Freyer and Michael Pretorius have decided to tackle the race in the Solo category.
“We had a couple of discussions about it and decided to start individually but still ride alongside each other. We both wanted a new challenge,” Freyer explained.
In 2013 the pair led for most of the race but a wrong turn-off at the end set them back, eventually ending in fifth and in 2014, a broken chain cost them the lead to finish in second position.
To keep up with and therefore support each other, Freyer and Pretorius have been training together for the last few weeks. “Training has been going very well,” Freyer added.
Meanwhile in the 2 person Mixed category, KIA Elite rider and current Namibian National MTB Marathon Champion, Michelle Vorster, who only joined the team some months ago, will fight for the podium alongside 2014 Namibian National MTB Marathon Champion Heiko Redecker who arrived in Windhoek from South Africa.
Furthermore, KIA Elite members Jan-Hendrik and Marnus Verdoes as well as junior rider Brandon Plaatjes have teamed-up with Adriaan Maartens to tackle the four-man category. Team support will be done by Mr. Willie Verdoes from KIA Motors Namibia, William Verdoes and Heinrich Kohne, also a Team KIA Elite rider.