The promising career of teenage cyclist Ian Els has been given serious impetus with his recent appointment as an ambassador for HEAD Bikes in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The 15-year-old Pretoria schoolboy will make his debut as an ambassador for the cycling equipment giant on Saturday in Bloemfontein, where he will compete in the SA National XCO Championships.<\/p>\n
Under HEAD Bikes SA, the highly rated HEAD bicycles are available to South African consumers following a distribution agreement signed with the European parent company late last year.<\/p>\n
The Garsfontein grade 9 pupil will have his first chance to carry out his role at a major event in Bloem this weekend as he strives to consolidate his position as one of the country’s most talented young mountain bikers.<\/p>\n
He is over the moon with the chance he has received and described the call from HEAD Bikes SA to join them as an ambassador as “my greatest phone call ever”.<\/p>\n
“The HEAD Bikes team have strong values because cycling is their life, too, and they also love every second of what they do,” said Els.<\/p>\n
Having started on July 1, he will fill the role until August 31 next year, getting a dream opportunity to promote HEAD’s quality products.<\/p>\n
The partnership will provide him with a top-of-the-range hardtail bike from HEAD, the Trenton IV. In addition he will receive casual HEAD apparel and a Westfalia BC 75 bicycle carrier to make travelling to and from races easier.<\/p>\n
Having been a cycling fanatic since he can remember, Els, who lives in Zwavelpoort in Pretoria, said the bike had always been “my happy place”.<\/p>\n
“To be the South African champion in XCO and represent my country is my aim, but I think the most important thing in life is to love and enjoy what you do,” said last year’s Spur Schools Series national champion.<\/p>\n
“Cycling is my life. I work very hard, but I love every second of it.<\/p>\n
“When younger cyclists approach me and I realise that I have made a difference – well, that is why we live.”<\/p>\n
Having made representing his country at the Olympic Games his ultimate goal, he said reaching his full potential in every race he entered was part of the journey.<\/p>\n
“I am proud of the sport of mountain biking. I want to encourage an interest in cycling in potential young cyclists, while always aiming to perform at my best.<\/p>\n
“My family and I are deeply grateful for the opportunity HEAD Bikes SA have offered me.”<\/p>\n
A HEAD Bikes SA spokesman said Els’s dedication and commitment to the sport made him the perfect fit for the role of ambassador.<\/p>\n
“He is a humble young man who appreciates what he gets in life and has achieved a great deal in the sport through hard work,” he said.<\/p>\n
“His approach to mountain biking and appreciation of the opportunities he has received are an example to all young cyclists.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The promising career of teenage cyclist Ian Els has been given serious impetus with his recent appointment as an ambassador for HEAD Bikes in South Africa. The 15-year-old Pretoria schoolboy will make his debut as an ambassador for the cycling equipment giant on Saturday in Bloemfontein, where he will compete in the SA National XCO […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260],"tags":[3651,3552,3650,3439,3652,3458,3653],"class_list":["post-20574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling-equipment","tag-head-bikes-sa","tag-ian-els","tag-positive-sport-solutions","tag-sa-national-xco-championships","tag-xco","tag-xco-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}