Review: Tour De Lunsar 2022
Image by Hickmatu Leigh
On Sunday the 27th March in Lunsar, we saw Sierra Leonean cyclists at the final of the four-day event known as Tour De Lunsar, Sierra Leone’s largest cycling race. Ibrahim Jalloh from Lunsar cycling took first place; Tenesie Dixon came second and Abu Sheik Sesay came third. The event founded by Karim Kamara aka Stylish first started in 2013. This year alongside their main sponsor Science in Sport, Tour De Lunsar has gained support from both local businesses and agencies within Sierra Leone and internationally supporting this year’s race and a creative collective to document the competition from our own lens.
It was an incredible experience to be a part of the event capturing the live content with a team of creatives from Sierra Leone’s capital city of Freetown.
Image by Hickmatu Leigh
The first day of the race started on the 24th March, a mighty race amongst the juniors and women cyclists in Lunsar. The following day was the official start date from (25th March) where we saw more than ten national teams from the country participating in the seventh Tour De Lunsar event alongside elite riders/members of the public who did a non competitive ride from the start point of Siaka Stevens stadium here in Freetown to Waterloo. The entire race journey was Freetown to Lunsar. During this journey with the content team it was insightful to witness the endurance and immense training the cyclists had been preparing for. The cyclists briefly stopped at the famous Cotton Tree for a few words of encouragement from a representative from the City Council before the race continued to Lunsar.
The following day, the competition started and ended in Lunsar with a quick turn in Makeni before heading back to Lunsar. This day had me anxious as the roads were tighter than the highway to Lunsar from Freetown and members of the public were still occupying the roads. Regardless of these distractions the cyclists powered through with only one mission on their mind.
C2C Cycling by Maseray Conteh
On the final day Sunday 27th March, after two intense days of cycling the cyclists still showed out and performed for the finale. Before take off there was a cultural exhibit from a variety of communities from Lunsar emphasizing of the inclusiveness of the annual cyclist event. Despite Mustapha Koroma of Flames Cycling’s colliding crash with another cyclist on Saturday leaving him profoundly wounded, he still persevered with strength and courage to complete the three-day race. On Sunday thirty cyclists travelled from Lunsar to Port Loko then back to Lunsar to the finish line where Ibrahim Jalloh had a victory win as the people of Lunsar and participates of the tour celebrated.