Team Amani
@teamamani
Team Name
Amani Racing Team
Status
Gravel / Offroad
Average age
26
Nationalities
Kenyan, Ugandan, Rwandan
Team AMANI is a racing team based out of Lola Bikes and Coffee in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Team composition is made up of riders based in The Hague as well as riders from sister teams in Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya.
The objective is to create a welcoming and low-pressure environment for up-and-coming cycling talent from East Africa. To provide the team members with an early insight into the realities of living and racing in Europe.
What does Team AMANI stand for?
The aim of AMANI is to create as many opportunities as possible for young men and women to race with riders in Europe. Team AMANI stands for equal opportunity in cycling. Through our presence in races across the world, we hope to demonstrate that the sport of cycling is more interesting (and exciting) when it is more inclusive.
What is The Amani project?
The AMANI Project is an unapologetically ambitious initiative that aims to incubate, nurture and develop athletes from East African regions with a pedigree in the distance running to transcend a different endurance sport - the discipline of cycling. To achieve these goals, the AMANI Project is divided into three key pillars of focus:
- Demonstrate Performance
- Create racing opportunities at home
- Invest in the future
Demonstrate Performance
Team AMANI, a motley crew of the best riders from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia brought together to compete in the biggest gravel races on the planet and showcase what can be achieved when the hurdles of material and access to racing are removed.
Create Racing Opportunities at Home
The Migration Gravel Race and the Safari Gravel Race Series aim to bring the best in the world to the gravel roads of Kenya (instead of Europe/US) in order to increase access to top-level competition for East African athletes and showcase the wonder of Kenya to a broader, international audience.
Invest in the Future
The AMANI House (High Performance Center) and the Black Mamba Development Squad are AMANI’s down payment on the future. Iten Kenya, a small town at 2400m elevation known as the “Home of Champions” for its long history of producing the best distance runners in the world is where AMANI House aims to hoist the flag of cycling by creating a space dedicated to performance and excellence. The Black Mamba Development Squad – based at the AMANI House, is AMANI’s U23 team, and these women and men will be provided with the physical and intellectual development they need to become the next generation of champions.
What are the main differences between cycling in the West and cycling in Africa?
Resources. In the West, we can sometimes take our cycling resources for granted. Whether they be access to equipment, nutrition, infrastructure, safe roads or well-funded national federations, the sport of cycling is simply much easier to access from the West.
However, we hope that with the advent of gravel and the increasing popularity of other off-road disciplines such as ultra and MTB (which in general are easier to access in terms of professional races), that we can increasingly play to East Africa's strengths, which are (among other things) racing in pristine landscapes dotted with gravel roads and tracks.
