Cycling is quickly overtaking football in Rwanda. The country is hosting several events: The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Africa Tour, the Tour of Rwanda and Kwita Izina Tour.

The organisers of the last event cleverly integrated the sport with the Festival of the Gorillas, also known as Kwita Izina. The festival draws thousands of foreign visitors and locals to witness the naming of newborn baby gorillas.

READ: Kwita Izina 2012 celebrates 19 baby gorillas, among them rare twins

The Kwita Izina Tour is an annual event held as a countdown to the actual naming ceremony, which takes part outside the national park headquarters in Ruhengeri, Musanze.

This year, the Kwita Izina Tour was held on June 9, ahead of the naming ceremony held on June 16, and attended by among others President Paul Kagame.

This year’s event had three stages covering a total of 321.9km from Kigali, Musanze and Rubavu.

This year’s Kwita Izina Tour was memorable because for the first time a Rwandan beat other international riders to the finishing line and took the yellow jersey.

Abraham Ruhumuriza beat his younger opponents in a time of nine hours, 12 minutes and 55 seconds. The 33-year-old outclassed challenger Azzedine Lagab from Algeria by three seconds in the thriller sprint finish.

Ruhumuriza had on previous occasions won the same race in the absence of the then more fancied Eritrean and Ethiopian riders. This time round they participated, making his victory much sweeter.

Another five Rwandans — Joseph Biziyaremye (third-9:13:02), Nathan Byukusenge (sixth-9:14:26), Emmanuel Rudahunga (eighth-9:16:11), Janvier Hadi (ninth-9:16:’29) and Gasore Hategeka (10th-9:17:15) — finished among the top 10.

Lagab won the honours for best climber in the various stages while Mulubrhan Gebrehans, who finished fifth in a time of 9:14:26, claimed the honours for best young rider in the competition.

The Karisimbi national cycling team, named after one of the early habituated gorilla groups in the Virunga range, has this year already participated in several international competitions and gained strength and tactical experience, which paid off handsomely at Kwita.

The tour was organised by the Rwanda Development Board Tourism and Conservation, which sponsored the event to the tune of Rwf70 million ($114,500).

Kwita Izina was the last event in the 2011-2012 UCI Africa Tour calendar.

The new season is expected to start in September involving 27 rounds in Cameroon, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Morocco, Algeria, Gabon and Rwanda. The season will begin with the second Grand Prix Chantal Biya in September in Cameroon.

After the Kwita Izina, the regional focus will be on Tour of Rwanda in November, where Kiel Reijnen of the United States of America will be defending his title.

Rwanda’s organisational skills in cycling are a challenge to its regional neighbours especially Kenya, which doesn’t have any event on the UCI calendar.

Rwanda Cycling Federation (Ferwacy) president Aimable Bayingana attributes the success of Kwita Izina Tour and Tour of Rwanda to the support received from the government.

For instance, Bayingana said this year’s Tour of Rwanda, which will take nine days and cover 895km, will cost Rwf350 million ($572,500) of which the government will cover 70 per cent with the private sector providing the remaining 30 per cent.

Tour of Rwanda has managed to attract crowds of 3.5 million people with massive media coverage both in Rwanda and abroad. This year, the event will be covered then screened every evening by Dstv Super Sport.

Rwanda has qualified one cyclist, Adrien Niyonshuti, for this month’s London Olympic Games.

Twenty-five-year-old Niyonshuti, who is currently training in Switzerland, will compete in the cross-country mountain bike race.