By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ROY Colebrook, a vice president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, was returned as president of the Bahamas Amateur Cycling Federation.

During the elections held on Saturday at the offices of the BOC and conducted by BOC executives D’Arcy Rahming and Colebrook went in unopposed as well as the rest of his team, that includes Kenton Roker as vice president, Barron ‘Turbo’ Musgrove as general secretary, Shirley Mireault as assistant secretary, Rowshan Jones as treasurer and Chad Albury, as assistant treasurer.

“I think we have a young and vibrant board that is prepared to take cycling from one level to the next,” Musgrove said. “It showed the enthusiasm of persons wanting to get into the sport, so what we are trying to do in this term is to bring the inclusion of the Family Island Associations involved with their new ideas and activities that they have going on.”

Over the course of the four years in office, Musgrove said the federation will ensure that they take advantage of all of the international competitions on the agenda, especially at the youth level where they hope to groom and develop a cadre of competitors that will eventually get the Bahamas prepared to compete in the Olympic Games.

“We will have our first meeting next week because I have a meeting with the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport’s governing body) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 11 where I present all of the questions from our members pertaining to the way forward for the Bahamas,” said Colebrook, who will there for his graduation for his Masters degree in Sports Organization from the International Olympic Committee’s museum on September 14 in Switzerland.

Musgrove, back as well in office as the general secretary, said they have been working to get more Family Island members on the board so that they can bridge the gap between New Providence and Grand Bahama. He said they want to include Eleuthera with their Hope for Hope, the Spanish Wells Championships, the Exuma’s Ride for Pompey and the Tour de Grand Bahama in Grand Bahama.

MICA, comprising of Mayaguana, Inagua, Cat Island and Acklins, doesn’t have a major event, but Musgrove said they were delighted to have a represented at the elections and hopefully they will be able to assist them in bringing more awareness of the sport to that section of the country.

“Hopefully we can see some of our young cyclists coming from there too,” Musgrove said. “I think the federation is now going to take a different approach towards cycling because New Providence is not cycling. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas has to be promoted in finding the next Kim Thompson, Barron Musgrove, Jay Major. Wherever we have good hills and long roads, we need to capitalize on them.

“So we are going to take a proactive approach to the sport where we include the recreational cyclists and corporate Bahamas to get them more involved in putting on events where we can create a better relationship in the community. We also want to take advantage of social media where we can sensitize the public a little more on the things that we are doing in the sport to get them more involved.”

Albury, who was introduced to the national team as an elite cyclist six years ago, said he’s happy to be able to give back to the sport that brought him some international exposure and recognition.

“It’s also been awesome to watch the growth of cycling, both recreational and competitively in the Family Islands over the past few years with significant club membership in Freeport, Grand Bahama and Spanish Wells, Eleuthera,” said Albury, a native of Abaco. “As a result of the recent emerging Family Island interest in cycling, the BCF has had the foresight to have Family Island representation on this executive committee.”

Albury, whose work has taken him throughout the United States, Saudi Arabia and Australia, said he can attest that the Bahamas has some of the most naturally gifted young athletes in the world.

“I look forward to working with this committee in identifying, developing our current and future cyclists and taking Bahamian cylcing to the next level.”

Jones, who previously served as the assistant treasurer, said as the new treasurer, he will continue to do whatever he can do, especially in Grand Bahama where he reside, to get cycling to expand beyond its current borders in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

“I’m looking forward to working with this new board,” he stated. “I feel that the board have some experienced and dedicated persons who can get the job done. So I feel that the federation is heading into the right direction and I will do whatever I can to make it more vibrant.”

With its terrain for competition, Jones said Grand Bahama is definitely a mecca for the sport with the annual Tour de Grand Bahama every February, organized by the local association headed by Lyle Smith. But the manager/coach of the national team that recently participated in the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia in April, agreed that there are so much potential on the other islands to enhance their national programme.

One of those islands is Exuma and John Nixon, who formed a local organization at the LN Coakley High School, said they are willing and ready to make their contribution to the growth and development of the sport. He has helped to develop the Ride for Pombey by getting the students at the school involved.

“I reached out to Roy and Barron because I was involved with both of them when we traveled to Carifta when I competed in the triple jump and they were on the cycling team,” Nixon said. “I know they have the intricacies that could help us in Exuma to produce some outstanding cyclists to compete at the national and international level.”

Nixon said he’s excited to go back to Exuma with renewed enthusiasm, working with the federation. He said he intent to bring the executives to Exuma so that they elaborate on their programme and how they can get more of the cyclists to look at venturing into the sport and even getting scholarships to attend the University of the Bahamas.

Teacha T Knowles, who reside in New Providence, but represented MICA, said they are prepared to get more cycling events on their islands and she’s willing to assist the federation in ensuring that the sport expand so that they can get more of the youngsters involved.

Knowles said she was encouraged by what she heard from the programme presented by the federation and she is eager to assist in any way she can.

Caption: From left to right are Rowshon Jones, Roy Colebrook, Teacha T. Knowles, John Nixon, Wayne Price and Barron Musgrove.