Cycling federation to invest in schools project

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The Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF) will be targeting a number of schools across the island as they seek to boost participation amongst the nation’s youth.
This is according to President, Mervyn Gore, who said numbers amongst the more senior riders continue to dwindle as some have left while others have simply decided to no longer ride.
“We had some issues within the federation and some people opt not to ride and I guess they are showing their protest but we have realised that and we are trying to address some of the issues and as I said, we are trying to get some of the youngsters involved in the sport,” he said.
“So far we have reached out to some of the schools and myself and Renee Gayral went out to All Saints Secondary School because they are actually starting a bike club, so we are trying to get lots of youngsters involved in the sport,” he added.
Gore is hoping that by utilising the bikes provided by the federation, more youngsters will get involved and remain in the sport for a longer period.
“An entry level bicycle, and this is just entry level, would go up to anything like US$1,500 and so for a family to go and spend US$1,500 and let’s say after four or five months the youngster is not interested in cycling anymore it’s asking a lot.
The federation has some bikes and we are trying to get people interested by using the federation bikes and after you realise that your interest is here or there, then you can take it from there,” he said.
Recently, young Antiguan cyclist, Emmanuel Gayral, finished second in the OECS Cycling Championships held in Dominica.
Emmanuel clocked a time of 3 hours, 5 seconds and 43 parts of a second (3:05.43) but was beaten to the line by St. Lucia’s Andrew Norbert. The St. Lucian clocked 3:05.03 in a sprint to the line.
Last year’s champion, Jyme Bridges Jr., finished third (3:01.13) while Renee Gayral was fourth in a time of 3:01.55. Veteran Robert Marsh closed (3:04.47) in the fifth position.

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