Dominica will for the time host the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Cycling Championship on June 18th 2017 during which a large number of cyclists from across the Caribbean region will participate.
President of the Caribbean Championship for the Caribbean region, Trevor Bailey, has visited Dominica to train local cyclist and he has selected a 13-member team to represent the island at the competition.
The team consists of Chester Letang, Hayden Mills, Bram Sanderson, Kim Williams, Zarique Peltier, Pearl Luke, Diamond Daniel, Diamond Luke, Garon Ducreay, Philip Eugene, Gabriel Armour, Jamal Laurent, and Kimon Scotland.
Speaking at a ceremony on Monday April 10th 2017 at the Anchorage Hotel, President of the Dominica Cycling Association, Ronald Charles, stated that Dominicans living overseas are showing interest in representing Dominica at the competition.
“We may have one or two other persons living outside of Dominica but they are Dominicans and they will be hopefully joining this team and representing Dominica. These guys have been in the system for years but they are very, very much interested in cycling for their home country,” he said.
Charles stressed that “cycling is our business” especially when young person are involved in the sport.
“They are the ones who are going to make us even more satisfied, by taking over cycling, and the good thing is we have a veteran in our midst, Hayden Mills, who continuously and anxiously and almost on a daily basis encouraging people to get on board in cycling. So yes we have young people like Bram Sanderson joining us, our veterans,” Charles said.
He also said that with this combination, cycling can be taken to the next level.
Meanwhile, Sanderson has been singled out from the team of local cyclists, “a potential person who will make Dominica proud,” according to Bailey.
A road racer (bicycle) was handed over to Sanderson to kick-start his journey of fulfilling his potential as a cyclist.
Giving thank ultimately to God and his family members, Sanderson expressed joy over being chosen to represent Dominican and sees this cycling event as a major contributor to boosting the tourism industry.
“You need to have something that attracts the tourist and I can say boldly with sports as the forefront of our attraction of our country, like cycling, every time people look in our direction, they have something to look forward to coming to Dominica. I believe that it can be a very significant contribution towards tourism, that can help build our country and take Dominica forward,” he said.
With his motto being ‘Inspiration Changes Generations’ Sanderson said he has an overall positive outlook of the competition itself.
“I might not win, but I trust and I hope that on that day I give my best, and my best comes out fruitful. With that being said I would like to say thank you,” he remarked.
Go pearl
This is good news.
However, cycling isn’t just about racing nor is it limited to riding mountain bikes over rough terrain. In my time I’ve cycled tens of thousands of miles; not as a racer but as a touring cyclist.
Unfortunately, the state of our roads and the standard of driving is not conducive to safe cycling. To this end what Dominica needs, both for residents and visitors, are dedicated cycle trails. Such trails are economical to construct and would reap their investment many times over in terms of safety, a healthy lifestyle and visitor attraction.
We are doing that and are encouraging riders to come out with us to the trails
i am happy for this event. i hope that it is successful and that Dominica gets mileage out of it. now for the negative part. this is the most poorly written article on DNO in 2017 thus far.
i want to paticipateee
good news.
Yesssssss!!! This is very good news! I cannot wait to to see cycling and Mountain biking an established sport or recreation in lovely Dominica!!! Keep going foward!!!
that’s it i love to see that and I can see we getting there hope the young people start taking part in cycling its one of the BEST sports that can get Dominican and Dominicans to the top .and to the person that asking about road ill tell you our Road is one of the best for cycling I do hope we in Antigua can come to Dominica to be part of that big time coming soon one love to D/a
I hope they capture the vent on film and have the local businesses and contributors market themselves and promote the island in a positive way!!!
so, where they going and ride? on which dangerous road?
exactly the roads in dominica are not properly marked speedbumps ESPECIALLY THE SPEED BUMP BY CANEFIELD AIRPORT in the night you CANNOT SEE IT mark the edges of roads so tourist don’t drive in the drain….
Allu always negative SMH.
it’s the truth, and it’s called constructive criticism, what I said if taken to thought will protect people…
To: Follow the Crumbs.
Hello and good afternoon my people. Stop being so negative about our country. They are going to ride on good roads from Roseau to Portsmouth and back which are very scenic. Also why don’t you help sponsor one of our participants.
Really are you living in Dominica
Okay ,Can you guys mention the other oecs countries taking part of the event.