Cycling on the streets of Ghana: Inside the life of Ghana’s finest cyclist Erica Sedzro

Erica Sedzro’s dream as a child, like most girls active in sports in Ghana, was to play football. But the 2000s were no friendly era for women in sports in the African nation.

While cycling was nowhere in her plans, today Sedzro is Ghana’s best female cyclist. And she has become so despite a difficult upbringing in a single-parent family.

“I was born in 1995 in Accra. My dad was a policeman, and my mother was a farmer and a trader,” Erica Sedzro began, as she recounted her childhood to Olympics.com.

“I am the sixth born to seven children who were practically raised by a single mother. My dad passed away when I was young, so it has been me, my siblings, and our mum throughout.

“It was a difficult time for us as a family, especially for my mum, but with the stipend she gets from my dad’s insurance and her business, she managed to raise seven strong adults,” she said with a big smile on her face.

Erica Sedzro’s sporting childhood in Ghana

Erica Sedzro’s entry point to sports was through football. Her recollection of how she began playing football is a faint one but all she knows is she started at a young age.

“Football has always been my talent. I believe God gave me so many talents and football is just one of many.”

Indeed, football was not her only team sport, as she had the talent to pursue handball as a goalkeeper as well as basketball before landing primarily on cycling.

The young Erica, independent from an early age, quickly discovered she also had talents away from sport.

“I had a great eye for cutting hair from when I was a teenager. People saw how neat my haircut sessions and styles were and decided to call in for my services. [I went] to their homes and give them a good haircut. I was happy. I started earning money from that gift and the tips were good,” she disclosed.

When Sedzro turned 18, she graduated from a senior high school where she had obtained a scholarship to play football. However, with no real prospects of earning a living in sport, she decided to take barbering seriously.

How Erica Sedzro found cycling

Erica Sedzro was introduced to cycling by Nii Kpakpo, a cyclist with Sky Club. “I have always prided myself as a hard worker and a go-getter. Shying away from challenges and new experiences has never been my thing. So when cycling presented itself, I took it,” she stated.

Sedzro learned how to cycle quickly after being accepted to join the club by Nii Kpakpo’s then-coach, Seidu, and fell in love with the sport. “I realised cycling was going to be my forever from the moment I started pedalling a bicycle. I had the skills and a high IQ for cycling.”

During the 2000s and 2010s, only a handful of women cycled in Ghana, but Erica Sedzro’s determination to make a name for herself outweighed any road bump ahead.

She entered cycling competitions, often the only woman amongst hundreds of male cyclists. “Even as a girl, I could outdo some of the guys, and that boosted my confidence. One thing I never did was give up during these competitions. My mission was to cross the finish line no matter what and I always did,” she said with a smile.

Sedzro’s first international cycling competition was in 2015 when she represented Ghana in the All Africa Games held in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, after she had gained prominence on the local cycling scene – a surreal moment although she did not win a medal.

Sedzro: "I will never give up on my dreams"

Sedzro believes the Ghana Cycling Federation (GCF) could do more for women cyclists by providing the support needed to grow professionally, Sedzro says.

In February, at the African Road Championships – a preparation tournament for the 2024 All Africa Games to be held in Accra – Sedzro won gold as the sighted pilot in the blind para-cycling event.

Sedzro also feels that she has to carry a lot of weight on her shoulders. “During the 2023 African Road Championships, they signed me up for all the events which include team time trials, individual racing, bunch racing, and the para-cycling event. When this happens, I can barely catch a break and give my best.”

GCF Secretary General Shaaban Mohammed sees nothign wrong with registering an athlete for multiple events as the number of female cyclists in Ghana is limited and he believes it gives Erica much needed additional exposure:

“When this happens, Ghana gets the needed representation in female Cycling and that will encourage Coprorate Ghana to offer sponsorship deals to the National team," he said.

And there is a lot of hope riding on Erica's talent.

Sedzro recalls participating in last summer’s Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, where she participated in track cycling alongside her teammate Florence Heridor.

“It was our first time cycling on a (velodrome) track, and we never trained on a track, neither in Ghana nor in Birmingham. We only trained on the streets and it wasn't really intensive.

“It was all so new to us but we were determined to make a statement and I believe our performance was great for first-timers,” she said.

Erica’s main source of income still comes from cutting hair. She works as a barber in a shop in Bubuashie-Kaneshie, a suburb in Accra. She uses some of the money she makes to cover her training costs since there is not a lot of investment in women's cycling in Ghana yet.

“My dream is to open my own barbering shop one day and help train girls and boys who would want to learn and be like me,” Sedzro said.

After winning bronze in the 2023 RideAfrique cycling competition, her main mission now is to accumulate more points and deliver a memorable performance at the 2024 All Africa Games in her home city, which will serve as a qualifier for the Olympic Games Paris 2024....