By Neto Baptiste
The Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF) will be seeking to have a number of speed bumps on the southern end of the island removed ahead of this weekend’s season opener, an Individual Time Trial, slated for Sunday.
This is according to president of the federation, St Clair Williams, who said the recently installed road safety devices will impede cyclists set to compete in the pending race.
“Immediately, we are hoping that they could, in particular for the training part of it, have maybe two or three feet of space inside [between] the speed bumps so that the cyclists could go through easily. In addition to that, on race days, we are hoping they could remove them on the route we are going to actually take on the race day,” he said.
A number of speed bump located in the area stretching from Darkwood Beach to Morris Beach in Old Road have recently been removed. According to reports, however, this is to accommodate the hosting on the AUA Rohrman Triathlon slated for March 7 and 8.
Williams said the bumps, in general, have proven a nuisance to cyclists.
“It has been hampering the cyclists from doing their regular training and so we have reached out ti the transport board and also the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda. We are actually supposed to be having a sit-down meeting with them because it is going to be a huge inconvenience with the cyclists in particular and not only for those participating in the race but for those persons who also go out to do their leisure riding for exercise and so forth,” he said.
Sunday’s time trial is slated to pedal off at 9 am and will see cyclists covering a distance of 13.7 kilometers.
The president an increase in the number of races normally hosted by the federation on an annual basis.
“We have increased from 14 [races] last year to 18, so we have an additional four races to the calendar. It’s going to be a packed season, an interesting season, so I am hoping the cyclists will come out and participate in all their glory and make this season better than last year,” Williams said.
The elite will complete two laps in this Sunday’s time trial while females, juniors and cadets will compete one lap.