The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL champions Lorin Sawyer, Marla Albury and Antinece Simmons will head a five-member team that will represent the Bahamas at the Caribbean Elite Men/Women Road Cycling Championships in the Dominican Republic.

The team, which will also include Lorenzo Carter and Chris Curry, will compete in the championships from August 12-15. Travelling with the cyclists when they depart the country today are Kenton Roker, the manager/head coach, assisted by Shirley Mireault and Lebert Gibbs.

Federation secretary general Barron ‘Turbo’ Musgrove said the team is a very strong one and he anticipates that they will perform very well.

“We’ve been competing in the Caribbean Cycling Championships for the last 10 years,” said Musgrove, a former national champion who represented the Bahamas on the international scene in the past.

“We initially started with the juniors where we had reasonable results when Jay Major won in the juvenile category. This is the second time. We are going to send a female team. In 2019, we sent Antinece Simmons and she came back with silver medal in the under-23 elite women in the individual time trials.”

With the steady improvement by Sawyer and Albury, who helped to provide a 1-2 punch on the women’s side with Simmons, Musgrove said the Bahamas has a strong chance to make an impression on this year’s championships. Add Carter and Curry to Sawyer and Musgrove said they are just as strong on the men’s side.

“We’re looking for reasonable success. We’re looking for Lorin to do very well in the time trials, his speciality, but we’re looking for the team to perform very well in the road race,” Musgrove projected. “Our females, we are looking for them to continue to build on the current programme which is to gain more experience and get some top 10 finishes.”

There has been no confirmation on a date or venue for the Caribbean Junior Cycling Championships, but whenever it is revealed, Musgrove said they expect to have some representation from the Bahamas.

“Our junior team hasn’t been selected as yet, but we still have some very young, talented competitors.” Musgrove said. “We’re just looking for another year and-a-half and we hope to have a talented group of junior and juvenile cyclists to compete in the Caribbean Cycling Championships again.”

In the meantime, Musgrove said the concentration is on the senior national team.

Sawyer, a native of Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, emerged as the double time trial and road race champion during the nationals last month. Albury, also of Spanish Wells, was the first Bahamian to complete the women’s time trials, while Simmons was crowned the road race champion.

Carter and Curry were both top finishers in the men’s national championships in the time trials and road race.