The Freetown Classic Cycling Race kicked off on Sunday morning on Pademba Road featuring several cycling clubs from Freetown and other parts of Sierra Leone.

Some of the clubs featured in this year’s race include the Lunsar, Kono, Lungi, Freetown, Treasure, Brookfields, Bo, Makeni and C2C Cycling clubs.

Cyclists will ride at slow pace from the start off point on Pademba Road, close to the iconic Cotton Tree through the Freetown central business district before picking up pace at St. Joseph’s Convent School on Main Motor Road, Brookfields.

The race will see cyclists race to Tokeh (Freetown Peninsular) and then Aberdeen where they will do a 5-lap crit before ending at Family Kingdom Resort, Aberdeen Beach in Freetown.

Sunday’s event is seen as an icing on the cake following Saturday’s Salone Freetown Crit which attracted many cycling teams in the country. The Kono Cycling Team stole Saturday’s show after Blessing Jabbie won the Female Crit defeating Esther Mansaray from the Brookfields Cycling Club by a narrow margin. Whether Blessing could clinch Sunday’s title again remain a contested opinion with her category filled with experience riders despite Saturday’s runner-up, Esther Mansaray absents from the race.

The organisers of the race, the Sierra Leone National Cycling Association said the competition is done to raise awareness on the safeguarding of wildlife and a support to the work of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary for over two decades now in Sierra Leone.