Father and son cycling duo continue to shine
The two have a natural father-son rivalry which pushes both of them to do better.
Father and son, Thys and Jason Oosthuizen, have been making their own individual marks on the South African cycling scene for years, and continue to do so as Jason finally comes of age.
Forty-three-year-old Thys was practically born with cycling in his blood as his father, Frans, was a keen cyclist, and at the age of 11, in a case of monkey see, monkey do, he started cycling. He would continue cycling competitively for a further seven years before he hung up his cleats at the age of 18, when he took a different path in life.
Thys climbed back onto the saddle once again at the age of 36, when he took up mountain biking, but two years later he returned to what he knew best – road cycling. He soon began cycling competitively once again and in 2016 signed with the Bestmed Cycling Team, for which he still cycles.
Since taking up cycling once again, Thys has had a lot of success, clinching a number of veteran’s victories in several cycle tours and one-day classics since 2016. Such victories include three Tour of Good Hope titles, one Berge en Dale title, one Wilro Cycle Challenge title, and a handful of South African National Championships titles.
While his father has dominated the veteran scene, Jason, aged 19, has not been idle. Having dominated the junior cycling scene for a long time, with Thys being both his mentor and coach, he has recently come of age by winning the elite men’s categories at numerous cycle races.
Jason is currently cycling for the TEG Pro Cycling Team, having cycled for ProTouch as a junior, and has been cycling in Europe every winter for the last three years. He won his first international race at Herselt in 2017, and enjoyed a positive Junior Tour of Ireland in 2017 as well.
He has also earned numerous national championship titles, and currently holds the SA National Track Record which he set in 2016. His latest victory, and arguably the biggest of his career thus far, came when he won the Elite Men’s Race at the Berge en Dale earlier this year.
