Rapha for Team Amani

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Rapha for Team Amani

Since 2021 the ambition of Team AMANI has been to climb to the highest peaks of the sport and make East Africa the home of not just endurance runners, but cycling champions as well. Currently plying their craft on the open frontier of gravel racing; these young athletes have the legs and desire to change the landscape…

Brooks: Amani Project Migration Project Saddles

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Brooks: Amani Project Migration Project Saddles

The latest special-edition saddle from Brooks England celebrates Kenya’s first official gravel event, the Migration Gravel Race,
which celebrated its first exciting edition in 2021welcoming top gravel riders from Africa and around the globe in an effort to raise the profile of cycling in Kenya and increase opportunities for African cyclists.

Limited to just 50 pieces, the Brooks C17 Migration Gravel Race saddle is an homage to the AMANI Project’s Timu Moja campaign. The term, meaning “One team” in the Swahili language widely spoken in East Africa, conveys the idea that in the drive for greater inclusivity in cycling, success for one East African cyclist, team or race organisation is success for all. Brooks identifies with the spirit of the Migration Gravel Race, and by purchasing this limited edition saddle you’ll be directly supporting the Maasai in their effort to maintain their beautiful cultural practices as well as the AMANI project in their laudable goal of making the sport of cycling more accessible to athletes from East Africa.

Following MGR2021, AMANI seeks to create cycling opportunities for the Maasai in particular through rider sponsorships and,
along with professional Kenyan riders, host a series of workshops at local schools where the riders could talk about how they cameto be professional cyclists and encourage kids to take up cycling.

See more at Brooks England.

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Rapha Films Presents | Migration

Rapha Films presents Migration, a documentary about the Migration Gravel Race, a four-day, 650km offroad bike race in the Maasai Mara. Created by Team AMANI and marshalled by local Maasai, the Migration attracts the best gravel bike athletes in the world.

This film explores the importance of the event to Team AMANI and their Black Mamba Development Squad; and how they are building the sport in East Africa, nurturing the next generation of endurance athletes on two wheels. Focusing on the riders of Team AMANI and Black Mambas, Migration is an insight into the work of AMANI and how this incredible race is symbolic of the Team’s character and ambition.

Four Gravel Stages in the Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve: the 2021 Migration Gravel Race Recap

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Four Gravel Stages in the Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve: the 2021 Migration Gravel Race Recap

A week ago, 61 contestants battled it out over 4 stages through the Masai Mara wildlife reserve, during the inaugural Migration Gravel Race in Kenya. While an epic adventure in itself, there’s more to this race than meets the eye. The MGR is one of the prongs of the Amani project, aimed at creating more race opportunities for East African cyclists to measure themselves with the best on an international level.

What better way to do so than to bring in the very best? With the attendance of 2021 Unbound-winner Ian Boswell and runner-up Laurens ten Dam (who claimed the victory at MGR), the bar has been set for future editions. Sule Kangangi, Kenyan pro cyclist and coordinator of Amani’s activities in Kenya, and 2021 Unbound winner Ian Boswell share their thoughts on this unique first edition.

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I Absorb Things Better at Speed: Fail 4 Migration Gravel Race Teaser

One of our contributors, Ryan Le Garrec, just took part in the Migration Gravel Race last week in Kenya. It is a 650 km off-road stage race with 8000 meters climbing in the Massai Mara. The grueling but rewarding course attracted lots of riders from all over the world. Among them was Unbound winner and second, Ian Boswell and Laurens Ten Dam. But more importantly, the race took pride in featuring local talents, riders from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

The race organization wants to have an impact on African cyclists representation in gravel and road races around the world.

How a Coffee Farmer Should Have Been (One Of) Colombia’s Greatest Cyclists

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How a Coffee Farmer Should Have Been (One Of) Colombia’s Greatest Cyclists

THERE IS A DISTINCT SHARPNESS in the Sunday morning Andean air as José Villegas plucks a tiny coffee shoot from the ground, barely as tall as an espresso cup. Looking out over the valley on the edge of the steep slope, the setting is idyllic, like something from a late 20th-century film epic. Dressed in little more than slippers, gym shorts, and a t-shirt, he studies the greenery carefully nestled in his palm, nods in approval, and continues scouting the steep slope around him for other shoots. His son, Juan Pablo, explains that this is how his father propagates new coffee plants on the farm, eschewing the far more common method of using commercial seeds. It keeps the fields GMO-free, organic, and high-quality. This is single-origin coffee grown at the perfect altitude (1800m/6000ft), something prized the world over. Everything on the farm is done mostly by hand. There are no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The family has been farming like this “from the beginning”, José explained, not because it was popular, but because it was the right way to do things. The only way.