SEEMS LIKE CYCLING’S hiatus from The City has another year left in it.
The big City comeback turned into a big wash out as heavy intermittent showers and the absence of an ambulance service forced the Barbados Cycling Union (BCU) to abandon their season-ending City Circuit in Bridgetown yesterday.
It was the second time in a month that cycling had to forgo its long-awaited return to The City, after an initial scheduling mix-up with the Silver Dollar Drive forced the race to be postponed on September 25.
But this time the racing committee of the BCU decided to go without the circuit altogether, with hopes of bringing back The City Circuit to open their 2012 season.
“We will not be coming back to The City this time,” said BCU’s public relations officer Colin Forde, who revealed that the season-ending event would be moved to the Top Rock course instead.
“This is a winding course out here, and a winding course with water will always be dangerous to the riders and we really don’t want to endanger the riders just to say that we put on a race.
“Obviously it is not a straight road, it’s a lot of winding corners that the waters settle on and there are a lot of crosses which will make the course even more difficult.
“[So] we’re not going to take that chance, [plus] the rules of cycling state that you must always have an ambulance service available at all times,” he added.
The event’s abandonment proved the cruel result for the much-hyped circuit, which hadn’t been used as a road race course since 1991.
So built up was the race that reigning road race king Darren Matthews returned home from the Pan American Games in Mexico just two days after competing to ensure his participation.
“I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to the event,” admitted Matthews.
“The speed would’ve really been up there and everyone would’ve been looking to see who fell down in the corners,” he joked.
Starting from Heroes Square, the riders were supposed to make their way towards Bridge Street and the Charles Duncan O’Neal Bridge, before turning right onto Bay Street.
From there, the peloton was slated to turn right at Independence Square before returning to the Charles Duncan O’Neal Bridge to go onto Wharf Road and Prince Alfred Street, right onto Broad Street and circle that route several times before finishing at the start point on Heroes Square an hour later.
“It’s a race that is being held all over the world in the cities now, where you close down the city for an hour,” said Forde.
“[And] it would’ve been a challenging course, a fast course, and what makes the race so interesting is that is only for an hour and three laps.
“But I don’t think that riders will be too upset because we have some riders that don’t like to ride on wet roads,” he added.
