Israeli mountain biker makes SA her Olympics training ground

Israeli professional cross-country mountain bike cyclist Naama Noyman is making a name for herself in South Africa, having been unable to return home because of the war in the Middle East. She came 10th in the Cape Epic from 15 to 22 March. 

She will now begin her campaign to make it into the Olympics team for next year. 

On Sunday, 26 April, she placed second in the UCI Mountain Bike Continental Series – SA XCO Cup, and on 18 April, she won the Nedbank Namibia XC 1 + UCI XCO Junior Series race, a high-level international mountain bike race held in Windhoek. 

The latter was her first international win in two years. 

“It was amazing, it was super cool. I haven’t won abroad in two years,” Noyman said. “I’m very happy to win now and to be back on my form. It was very exciting. It was emotional.” 

Just before she was set to fly to South Africa on 5 March to race in the Cape Epic, the war with Iran began, making leaving Israel complicated. She had to travel through Egypt, as she was determined not to miss out on riding the biggest mountain bike race in the world. 

“It’s a race that’s on the bucket list of any mountain biker,” Noyman told the SA Jewish Report this week. “And last year I finished third in a very big race in Europe, and it secured an invitation from the organisers to be a part of the elite in the Cape Epic. I hadn’t planned to do it this year, but I got the invitation,” she said. 

“It’s not like you can postpone it by a year. So, I had to go for it. I said yes immediately. It has been my dream to do it since I learned about mountain biking. And it was actually a very good time to do it because it’s right before the beginning of the Olympic campaign. It’s a great physical challenge.” 

The Olympic campaign, she said, is the criteria she needs to follow to qualify for the Olympic team. She starts it on 1 May and it continues until May 2028. During this time, she must complete between 40 and 50 races to collect the necessary points to compete in the next Olympic Games. 

For Noyman, coming 10th in the Cape Epic was a massive achievement. But it meant even more than that to her. She said she felt it connected her with the roots of mountain biking and with what made her fall in love with the sport in the first place. 

“I’m  grateful for it because it set me in a mental place to start the Olympic campaign in a very high place for me. I’m feeling so connected to my path and to my bike now,” she said. 

However, after finishing the Cape Epic, it became clear there was no way for her to return to Israel to continue her training because of the war. So, she and her coach decided she would continue training and racing in South Africa and launch her Olympic campaign here. 

“My coach and I came up with a plan of continuing racing in Africa for now. Because in Europe, it’s still a bit of off-season for racing. And here it’s the beginning of the season. Here, there are some good races to do. So, I did two races in Namibia. And now I have races here in Johannesburg.” 

When the Jewish National Fund South Africa and the Israel Centre found out that Noyman was effectively stuck in South Africa, they took her under their wing. They helped her connect with the South African mountain biking community so she could keep up with her rigorous training schedule. The Capri Wheelers Cycling Club hosted an event for her on 23 April to support her campaign to get to the Olympics. 

This is Noyman’s second Olympic campaign. In her previous one, she just missed making the grade, reaching first place outside of the qualification. Which means she was next in line, within a very small margin. 

Once she makes it, she will make history, as the first Israeli woman mountain biker to perform at the Olympics. 

“In this Olympic campaign I come with much more experience, I’m also in a better shape, and I’m much more in the right mindset to do it. I have no doubt I need to make it happen for me and for Israel.” 

Noyman said the prospect of racing in South Africa was exciting for her, not only on a personal level, but also to represent Israel. However, because of the war, her kit for the national championship didn’t arrive in time, so she had to race with a black kit with only her sponsors’ names on it. 

“I don’t go in the streets and shout that I am from Israel, but I also don’t hide it. And in the cycling community, it’s very safe. And also, everybody knows me. Everybody knows my story. 

“They know I’m from Israel. They know my brother is serving in the army. And they know that I moved down south in Israel two years ago and work with youth affected by 7 October in the Gaza envelope. Everybody knows my story; I’m not hiding it. What I get from the cycling community is nothing but empathy,” she said. 

“I was very sad that I still didn’t have my special Israeli kit with me. I’ve been wearing my black kit, but I will be getting the one with Israel on it when I get back,” she said. 

Keeping up her training routine in a different country isn’t unusual as she’s always adjusting her routine to wherever she is in the world. On average, she rides 20 to 25 hours a week on her bike, with running and strength training added to the mix. 

“My discipline is the cross-country discipline, the Olympic discipline on mountain bike. And it’s very tough to train for this because we use all of the energy systems in the body. You have anaerobic and aerobic. I race for an hour and a half. And I go full gas, but it’s an hour and a half. It’s not a 100m sprint. We do both long rides and moderate pace, and we also do short intervals with very high intensity.” 

Noyman grew up in Misgav, a town in the north of Israel, which she described as being the best place in Israel for cycling, as there is a mountain biking club and an excellent coach there. 

“The path was almost laid out for me, I had older riders to look up to, and they were already competing abroad,” she said. “My coach took me under his wing. He saw my potential early on and helped me secure sponsorships, because while my parents supported me as much as they could, they weren’t able to do so financially. He made sure I had the best equipment and took me overseas to race, putting me on this path.”