Forde misses out on medal

Barbados’ top international cyclist, Barry Forde, did not medal in Friday’s sprint event at the 2010 Pan American Cycling Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico. But his coach Gary Neiwand, is not in the least concerned. In fact, he is “pleased as punch” with Forde’s performance as it is an indication of how well they are meeting the targets of the cyclist’s new restructured training programme.Forde began training with new coach Neiwand last November when he relocated to Melbourne, Australia. Prior to his silver medal finish in the Keirin at these championships on Wednesday, he had signalled his return to international cycling with keirin bronze medals in the third UCI World Cup Classics in Cali, Colombia and in the Latrobe Carnival in Tasmania, Australia. The new training programme introduced by coach Neiwand kicked into high gear following Forde’s recovery from injury last year, and his preparation is currently geared towards the Commonwealth Games due to be held this October in India.  “Coach Gary Neiwand came into these Pan Am Cycling Championships with several objectives; one was to have Barry Forde medal in the Keirin given that at this stage of the training programme their focus is on power and conditioning,” said Keith Yearwood, President of the Barbados Cycling Union, speaking from Mexico earlier yesterday. “Barry and his coach have not done any work in the sprint area as yet because of the concentration on power and conditioning, as opposed to speed. Their intention to use these championships to look at certain technical elements, like gears and so on, paid off as they now have a clearer picture of how they will incorporate the particular techniques required for the sprint into the overall training programme.Yearwood said another key objective for the coach was to have Shane Weekes break the Barbados national record in the Kilo (1 000m) event, as a first performance benchmark in the training regimen that has been designed for him. “The Barbados Cycling Union is very happy with the performances we’ve seen here, and we will be continuing to do all that we can to ensure that our cyclists can continue to progress in this direction,” Yearwood concluded. (BA/PR)