Teens are big wheels for Bermuda

Bermuda will be represented at the fifth Annual Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships by five teens looking for Bermuda’s best results in this regional championship.  Dominique Mayho, Tre-shun Correia, Marquise Cann, Mark Godfrey and Hayley Evans will represent Bermuda. 

BBA president Peter Dunne is confident that the 2010 representatives will produce the best results the local squad has seen in this prestigious competition.

In 2008 Evans won bronze in the Girls 15-18 time trial while team-mate Sophie Adams came third the road race.  Last year saw Bermuda earn another bronze in the time trial when Izabella Arnold achieved the top result in the event held in Bermuda.

Looking to the competition in Aruba, the local representatives will face stiff competition from the regional cycling powerhouses of Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica.  But with five months of training under their belts the local squad should have some confidence.  Mayho and Correia have been racing with great success at the top of the best local racing category while Cann and Godfrey have shown that their development in the sport is coming along quickly.

Mayho and Correia, both Berkeley Institute students, will race in the Junior 17-18 age group in both Saturday’s 18-kilometre time trial and Sunday’s 80-kilometre road race.  Each is the current holder of a Junior National Champion title, Mayho in the road race and Correia in the time trial. The time trial course and distance will be the same for all participants with Godfrey  and Cann in the Juvenile 15-16 category where the road race will be 60 kilometres. For Evans and the rest of the Girls 15-18 category the road race will be 50 kilometres.

Dunne will be traveling with the team as well as BBA executive committee member Nigel Godfrey and Durward Cann. The squad was selected from an initial group of 12 cyclists and has been training under the guidance of Geri Mewett who prepared their workouts, provided assessments and hosted several of the team at the Highland Rim Cycling Classic in Tennessee in May.

In addition to the local participants, Bermuda will be involved in the event as the DeSilva family of Bermuda Timing Services have been engaged by the race organizers to produce the official results of the race. 

This is the first time that BTS will be taking its high tech chip timing and finish line camera services overseas.