Tough preparation for Jamaican cyclists
Published:Wednesday | June 2, 2021 | 12:10 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
For the first time in 24 years, a Jamaican track cycling team will participate in an international event, when a three-man team competes at the upcoming Pan American Track Cycling Championships June 23-29 in Lima, Peru.
However, despite the challenges and now limited time to get prepared, coach Patrick Lynch says they continue to make the best of the situation.
The Jamaica Cycling Federation recently named Daniel Palmer, Brandon Reid, Zoe Boyd and female rider, Dahlia Palmer, for the championships.
However, the federation had to forgo the national trials after they failed to get government approval for the sport’s return in time.
The unavailability of the stadium velodrome has also made preparations more difficult, as the athletes had to resort to road training, which is not ideal for this form of racing.
“Preparation is now on in earnest. We just got approval a week ago to return to training at the National Stadium. So we have a very short time to prepare and we are still limited by what we can do. But we are grateful to be back on the track,” Lynch pointed out.
“Before we got the (National Stadium) facility, we were training over Hellshire on the road, but we are utilising the facility as best as we can and doing all we can to get the best preparation possible,” he added.
FIRST TIME IN DECADES
It will be the first time since 1997 that Jamaica is entering a track cycling team in an international competition and Lynch, who was a member of the last team over 20 years ago, noted that their ambition is to gain experience and try to secure qualification to other major events.
“For some time it was usually just a one-man (that represents the country) but now we have a team to represent the country. We haven’t done that since 1997 and we have a lot of work to do. So we are going to use this as a big learning experience so we can create some sort of a structure and identify what we need to do and work on going forward,” he stated.
The championship is also a qualifier for several international games, including the Pan-American Games and CAC Games, and Lynch hopes to use the opportunity to improve their International Cycling Union (UCI) ranking and chances of qualifying for these other events.
“Once we perform well we get points that could qualify us for the Nations Cup. It is a great opportunity for us, we can improve our UCI ranking, and that can help us to qualify for the PanAm Games and CAC Games next year.
“But this will enhance their (cyclists) experience because after this Olympics, it will be a two-year cycle before it is 2024 Games, so this is also a stepping stone for the guys to try and qualify for that Olympic Games in two years,” Lynch said.
“This is the rebirth of Jamaican track cycling, and every competition that we go into, the intention is to get stronger and stronger,” he added.