Pump for Peace – Velosolutions Racing Team

The team consists of Faranak Partoazar from Iran, Tumelo Makae from Lesotho and Unathi Nxumalo from South Africa. All of them are leaders of the sport in their communities. And all three athletes have shown incredible resilience and determination to chase their dreams and overcome obstacles.

In 2022 Pump for Peace and Velosolutions launched a mountain bike racing team that supports riders from marginalised countries and communities to compete at the highest level of the sport. The aim is to take down as many barriers as possible for the future generation of mountain bikers in their countries.

Initiated by founder of Pump for Peace and Velosolutions, Claudio Caluori and multiple Cape Epic winner, Ariane Lüthi, the team is now managed by Ariane, while Claudio assists the team with his network and by managing sponsorship relations

The Team

Faranak Partoazar

Faranak’s battle started long before she could even compete on a race track, she had to fight passionately for the right to ride a bike freely as a woman in Iran. Her determination and persistence challenged and changed the negative attitude toward women cycling in her country. Finally starting her professional career in 2014, she has won all National titles and races in Iran, many International races as well as the first ever medals in Asian Championships and in 2023 at the Asian Games representing Iran, the first in the history of the country for a female cyclist and has relentlessly been pushing to change the perspectives on women’s cycling in Iran and beyond.

Tumelo Makae

Tumelo is 27 years of age and hails from Lesotho, ardent about racing bikes mainly MTB (XCO) he is a 7 x Lesotho National Elite Champion, a silver medal winner at African Championships 2017 (U23 category) and already joined the winning pairs team for Pump for Peace along with South Africa’s Cherie Redecker at the Swiss Epic in 2020. Together with Unathi he was the best placed black African team at the 2023 Absa Cape Epic.

Unathi Nxumalo

The 21-year-old grew up in Hammarsdale, a rural village outside Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The talented Nxumalo placed 5th at the 2022 African Continental MTB Championships in Windhoek, Namibia and has numerous top-10 South African Elite XCO finishes. He is a versatile cyclist who excels in mountain biking, road and gravel. Nxumalo is studying an Agricultural Diploma through AgriColleges International and his studies are sponsored by the KZN Department of Sports and Recreation.