Having only been in existence for 6 months the Bermuda Cycling Academy is a program focused on improving local competitive cycling.
Most of their members are juniors (5-18years) who train between 3 and 7 days a week. These riders come from all different walks of life some have no racing experience before joining the program and are now racing amongst Bermuda’s elite cyclists. This is the first time a local Junior team will be travelling to Europe to compete against teams from around the world. The ‘Jeugdtour’ as it’s called has approximately 800 registered competitors heading to Assen, Netherlands from July 27th - August 1st to compete for glory in the 6 day Stage Race. Most of the juniors there will be the next professional cyclists you see competing in the Tour De France and Olympic Games.
"We're incredibly proud to see the development of our young riders, both physically and mentally," says director Anton Gilbert. "Bringing a focused, talented team to Europe from Bermuda is something we're very proud of. These kids don't just represent a team or a sport, they represent Bermuda’s next generation of talented athletes."
On Sunday June 14th and June 21st they will be fielding the largest group of Junior athletes in Bermuda’s National Championship races. The goal is to get good results against the current race favorites like Mathew Olivera and Tyler Smith who have been dominating the sport recently. Cycling is a team sport as most people do not know so we are confident that we will give bring plenty challenge and excitement to the race being we have the largest team.
All of our athletes are hungry for success including Malik Joell, Benjamin Edwards and Zion Dowling to name a few of our very promising riders.
Dylan Hill, 15, just finished 2nd in the Sinclair Packwood Memorial Junior Race and is in good form going into the upcoming events. After winning the Mountain Bike Season in Adult B class and coming 3rd in the Junior Mountain Bike Championships to Robin Horsefield and Olivera he plans to have a good race.
Rajul Matthie-Shakir, 17, is a 2015 Grand Prix Stage winner and 3rd Place finisher in the General Classification showing a lot of promise this season. It is no question that his sprinting ability is second to none and if the race comes down to a sprint Rajul will surely win.
The events will feature 14 Mile Time Trial and a 36 Mile Road Race."
Going to the European Junior Cycling tour is a benchmark for BCA and the hard work has only just begun. I have received international requests for junior cyclists to join our program but at the moment we cannot accommodate any more than our own local athletes for financial reasons,” says Anton. The plan is to continue to grow and to put local riders on the world stage. All of the boys admire Domonique Mayho and his success in overseas competition. Mayho has given them a present day hero story to believe in. Bermuda is an awesome place and its time we show the world how awesome we are!
The next step is having our riders be selected by the Bermuda Bicycle Association for the national team going to the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships on August 7th in the Dominican Republic. Three of them are eligible to go and are excited if afforded the opportunity.
We thank our sponsors for their continuous support Ocean Interiors, Emoo.bm, Dunkley’s, Today in Bermuda and Islandstats.com. Without them our dreams would not have become attainable goals that we are so close to reaching!
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