Cycling Year in Review 2013

With more medals, national records, development and consistency being delivered from this nation’s riders meet after meet, the future of Trinidad and Tobago cycling is indeed heading in the expected direction.

And with a youthful but exemplary athlete such as Njisane Phillip setting the standard on so many stages, the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation should be surely proud of this model athlete who has been the driving force of most of TT’s upcoming riders.

Highlighting TT’s achievements over the competitive year was Phillip who once again rode into national history books when he won this nation’s first ever medal at an International Cycling Union (UCI) World Cup. The 22-year-old pedalled to silver in the Sprint event at the season’s first leg of competition in Manchester, England, in November, a feat which no other national cyclist has ever attained. And even though his pinnacle achievement was registered in the latter half of the year, it was surely well worth the wait for spectators and fans alike.

In the final, Phillip fell victim to German phenom Robert Forstemann, who tasted sweet Olympic revenge when he blasted to gold along the sleek Manchester track.

Meanwhile, Phillip’s success at the London Olympics saw his pedigree rise among world athletes and he used this leverage to bring what can be considered this nation’s biggest and most star-studded line-up of world renowned riders at the Arima Velodrome and Skinner Park (San Fernando) for the inaugural Njisane Three-Day Cycling Festival.

Never before had fans of the sport seen such a high calibre of professional racing along the tracks of our local facilities. With riders such as Forstemann, Sofia Arreola (Mexico), Natasha Hansen, Katie Schofield (both of New Zealand), Josiah Ng, Lisandra Guerra (Cuba), Denis Dmitriev, Valentin Savitskiy (both Russians) all in the mix, this was maybe the most epic moment of 2013 for TT’s growing cycling fan base.

And after three days of exciting racing in the north and south, Phillip with his unique southern hospitality, opted to take his visitors on a scenic tour of the islands. This tour automatically went viral on the internet and marketed TT on an entirely new level of sport tourism.

At the National Championships in July, several track records fell at the Arima facility. On day-one, Team Drive Phase Sport cyclist, Justin Roberts first set a new track record in the Flying 250m with a time of 14.705 seconds. On day-three, Lester repeated the feat in the Junior Women Time Trial with a time of 39.528s, Roberts once again obliterated the field and established a new time of 1:08.126 in the men’s equivalent. DPS club-mate, Quincy Alexander also bettered Phillip’s two-year-old record in the 1km Time Trial by clocking a speedy 1:06.328s. And on the fourth day, Phillip rewrote the track record with a fiery 10.707s clocking in the Men’s Sprint.

Then came the Pan American Junior Cycling Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, which saw a promising DPS Roberts bag silver in the Men’s Sprint and Kilometre Time Trial. The 19-year-old also set a new national junior record in the latter event and also met the qualification criteria for the 2013 Junior World Championships in August.

After the Junior Pan Am was the Tour of Trinidad and Tobago, which pedalled off in September and saw yet another barrage of top international riders coming to the twin-island republic for days of gruelling road challenges. Even though the event was forced to have some of its stages written off, the event still emerged a success and assisted in the further development of our nation’s endurance prospects.

September’s Road Championships also saw endurance athlete, Emile Abraham return to the top of his national game by claiming both the Road Race and Time Trial titles. Then came the annual Beacon Cycling on the Avenue, which saw the late Dominican Republic’s Euris Vidal claim top honours ahead of all national rides and then bag the coveted Newsday Cycling Classic crown later on in the month. However, this stalwart rider, who was scheduled to suit up in Abraham’s In-Carbon Predator Component outfit in 2014 passed on a couple days ago in his home country after a robbery attempt gone wrong. A respected and familiar rider to the circuit is now sadly gone too soon.

This year was also a blossoming time for the mountain biking fraternity with the inaugural Mountain Bike Championships won by Team Beacon’s Jason Costelloe.

Team DPS also had their fair share of achievements as they welcomed Jude Codrington to the professional club. In September, the DPS outfit travelled to Cuba which saw Quincy Alexander winning back-to-back gold medals in the Sprint and Keirin events. Codrington would also make a lasting impression as he held on to bronze in the Keirin at the Mexican Copa de Pista earlier this month. Additionally, club-mate Jovian Gomez was also awarded the prestigious President’s Cup from the TTCF for his impressive performances on the local circuit.

The future is positive for national cycling with the likes of Varun Maharajh expected to climb the rankings and establish himself at the helm of endurance riding for TT. As for now, three top riders have been nominated for the upcoming Spirit of Sport Awards.

They are Justin Roberts for the Junior Male and Emerging Athlete of the Year; Njisane Phillip for Breakthrough Athlete/ Male Athlete and Sports Performance and Abraham for the Comeback Performance of the Year.