Photo: David Bell
By Rowshan Jones
Freeport, Bahamas - On Saturday July 3rd 2010, cycling once again hit the streets of Grand Bahama as the Grand Bahama Cyclist Club staged its Annual Road Cycling Championships. This year’s event, which was sponsored by Fidelity Bank Bahamas, like in previous years proved to be an exciting one for both participants and spectators as cyclists from Grand Bahama clashed against cyclist from Nassau in what was a “Clash of the Titans” in Bahamian cycling.
This event was a precursor to the National Cycling Championships that will be held in Nassau over the Independence Holiday weekend and served as an opportunity for cyclists on both islands to test their form heading into the National event which will serve as a qualifier for the National Cycling Team that will be heading to the Commonwealth Games in October.
Cycling in Grand Bahama has suffered in years past due to lack of support, but the Grand Bahama Cyclist Club hopes to change that with a string of events that gives the sport the consistency required to garner community attention and support. As such, these championships also served as a part of the GBCC’s Seven Race Points Series which is a series of races to be held on the third weekend of every month between now and October.
The first race in the series was held in April following the Pollo Tropical’s Ride for Charity. The event on Saturday served as the second race in the series and was hoped to be a start to a Junior Cycling Program here on the island of Grand Bahama. Unfortunately, no juniors from the island participated in the event. Instead, the juniors from the Warriors Cycling Team in Nassau participated in the event and proved what potential for cycling lies latent in our Bahamian youth as they locked wheels with the likes of Kim Thompson of Grand Bahama and Barron Musgrove of New Providence. The youngsters from Nassau completed the full 50 mile course and were even able to counter and keep up with the attacks of the senior cyclists. However, the lack of youths from Grand Bahama does not lessen the resolve of club president Rowshan Jones to form a youth team on the island as he sees the interest of youths in the sport every time he gets on his bike and rides past a young person who either, hails, points or asks if he’s in a race.
The third event in the series will be held on Saturday August 21st and Sunday August 22nd 2010. This event is a stage race that will be composed of a Time Trial Stage and two Road Race Stages. Cyclists will compete in the three stages to arrive at an accumulated time that will determine the winner of the overall classification. This of course promises to be yet another exciting event and another block to the foundation of cycling on Grand Bahama, which has shown steady growth in participation and support in recent months with companies like Grand Bahama Tank Cleaning Company, Pollo Tropical, Coca Cola, Sawyers Fresh Market and Fidelity Bank all lending their financial support to events. This growth in support, though small, bodes well for the future of cycling in Grand Bahama. And with the youth of Grand Bahama yet untapped, the future looks even brighter as the club is gearing up to launch a Junior Initiative at the beginning of the school year that hopes to be more successful in attracting young people to the sport.
The winner of Saturday’s race and Grand Bahama’s Road Cycling Champion for 2010 is Kim Thompson of Grand Bahama in a time of 2:12:39s. Second was Barron Musgrove of New Providence in a time of 2:12:43s and third was Jonathon Holmstead of Ross University in a time of 2:13:18s. In the junior division, the winner was Anthony Colebrook in a time of 2:16:54s. Second was Roy Colebrook Jr. in a time of 2:25:09s and third was Justin Minnis in a time of 2:25:10s. The Grand Bahama Cyclist Club would like to thank all of the cyclists that participated in the event as well as the volunteers that assisted with the event. Special thanks is also extended to Fidelity Bank Bahamas who signed on as a sponsor of the event. For more information on the cycling and the club, persons can visit their website at www.grandbahamacyclistclub.com. Or email Rowshan Jones at gb-cyclist@hotmail.com.
