Trinidad and Tobago’s cycling success through Njisane Phillip at the London 2012 Olympics has been paying dividends in terms of growing the sport.
So says Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TTCF) vice-president Gregory Dandrade, who is also the TTCF’s racing committee chairman.
According to Dandrade, Phillip’s performances—including upsets of world top five riders, Germany’s Robert Forstemann and Denis Dimitriev of Russia—have helped heightenA interest in the sport, causing more parents to bring their children into the sport, and to be more involved with their children’s cycling.
Dandrade is very much encouraged over the changes, including more girls competing in the sport, and better times as well. Keiana Lester of Bike Smith is one such example. She has twice smashed the girls junior sprint record this year, and her times have been more impressive than the senior riders.
Lester, 16, will join Aziza Browne and Kollyn St George at the Pan American Junior Championships next month in Aguascalientes, Mexico as the T&T ladies sprint team, with standout junior sprinter Justin Roberts and Samuel Mahabir making up the boys’ team. They will be coached by Clinton Grant and managed by Gary Acosta.
They will be competing in the sprint, keirin, team sprint and individual time trial (one kilometre for junior men, 500 metres for ladies) events. The team will leave T&T on July 2 for the Championships, which will be staged between July 7 and 12.
T&T’s cyclists have generally been getting more exposure on an international front. Phillip, who stole the show in the match sprint at the recent UCI Festival of Speed in the US, is now off to Germany for a training stint, ahead of European Grand Prix competition. With him are fellow sprinters Kwesi Browne and Azikiwe Kellar and endurance rider Varun Maharaj, who all competed in the US event.
On the other side of the world, Team DPS—with sprinters Quincy Alexander, Haseem McLean and Roberts, as well as Jovian Gomez (endurance events)—departed T&T for China, where they will test their skills in an international Grand Prix event as they seek to accrue enough points to join the World Cup circuit.
It seems these are good times for local cycling.
“I don’t think you can compare (what’s happening in cycling now to five years ago),” Dandrade reasoned. “You can see more involvement, parents are more involved, pushing their children. The kids are willing to go forward.
“With the Federation’s help and the Sports Company (SPORTT), a lot of funding is involved, so we will have to support the teams outside. I don’t know how we will do it, but we have to find a way. We have to work (on) development and with the elite cyclists as well.”
Dandrade also pointed out that the great exposure for cyclists has resulted in greater competition among them.
“Justin will be a senior next year, so he will add value to the team. They will all step up, so the competition will be harder and you still seeing improvement. Even Azikiwe move up to 11.0, Njisane set bar 10.7 (at Arima Velodrome). You see a lot of improvement and the young fellars coming at it.”
He is also expecting good performances at the Pan Am Juniors.
“I’m very positive about the team,” Dandrade said. “I know Justin Roberts in the males will bring back a medal, and I’m confident the girls will do something (good). I expect a couple medals from the girls. We had them training with (Clinton) Grant for a month, and they’ve been doing really well.”