The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The New Providence Cycling Association hosted a weekend of competition featuring some of the top athletes in the sport here in the capital, and a young group of cyclists emerged to dominate the Tour de New Providence.

Anthony Colebrook, 17, was named the overall Tour Champion for the two day event held at the Clifton Heritage Park.

Colebrook captured the “Outstanding Cyclist” on day one after he won the 30 mile road race while Jay Major, 17, won “Outstanding Cyclist” on day two of the two day stage race.

Major won the only two stages that he competed in, the 18 mile sprint race and the 6 mile Individual Time Trial.

“Team Potcake” was named the Outstanding Cycling Club, the “Outstanding Female Cyclist” was Antinece Simmons, and the “Outstanding Junior Cadet Cyclist” was nine-year-old Felix Neely of Team Warriors and a member of the New Providence Development Cycling Programme.

The Senior I and II divisions covered eight laps of a six-mile route, Senior II’s covered five laps of the same six mile route, and Senior IV’s covered six laps of the same route.

President of the NPCA said the young cyclists set the tone early and served as an indication of the positive direction the association and the sport is headed.

“I think this was our most successful edition of the event this far. We had many newcomers, unattached riders and quite a number of teams overall, which was particularly important to the growth of the association. Our young cyclists put on a particularly impressive showing and show that they are the building blocks for our sport locally,” he said.

“A number of them have been in the junior development system for a few years and this is why we encourage the formation of clubs. It shows the federation is on the right path. There are several others in the pipeline at this moment but for young cyclists like Jay and Anthony to be so dominant at the age of 17 shows that the future is bright for cycling in the Bahamas.”

Musgrove said that further editions of the event will serve as a means to bring the community together and promote safety awareness for newcomers to the sport.

“We want to bring in more school kids and community involvement. With a wider market of the community involved we can market better and expand it from just a weekend event to include at least one or two days during the week,” he said. “Ideally we would like to take the entire week and promote public safety for cyclists and pedestrians for the entire week leading up to the weekend finale.”

The next major event on the calendar for the NPCA is the Bertram “Cowboy” Musgrove Classic, scheduled for October 20-21, which will feature both a road race and the finale at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center.