The Jamaican Government and the head of world cycling Pat McQuaid have pledged to give the Jamaica Cycling Federation their backing, focusing on the development of the sport.
At a reception held at the offices of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Monday for the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), governing body for world cycling, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth, and Sports Olivia Grange said "Jamaica had always been a country of cyclists".
Citing notable cyclists such as Olympic bronze medallist David Weller, as well as Peter Aldridge and Arthur Tenn, the minister pointed out, however, that since the 1990s cycling "has failed to maintain a level of popularity and lost support".
She stated that since 2006 the "Jamaica Cycling Federation (JCF) has embarked on an ambitious project to rejuvenate cycling in Jamaica". The sports minister noted that the presence of McQuaid "encouraged the federation and signalled that we mean serious business".
Grange hoped that the visit of the UCI would "create renewed interest and restore the sport of cycling". The minister said she was aware of the "slow progress of the sport and its low profile in Jamaica. This is unfortunate because cycling is an excellent form of physical fitness which can be enjoyed by both the young and the not so young".
Meanwhile, UCI boss McQuaid, an Irishman excelling in road races in the 1970s, said he was focusing on the development of the sport in the Americas, including the Caribbean. He believed that cycling would be restored in Jamaica in which it had "a long tradition".
The decline of the sport, McQuaid noted, came about due to the changes in track cycling in the 1990s. "We moved it from being a summer sport to a winter sport because it was in competition with road cycling and the glamour sport of Tour de France."
McQuaid added that track cycling had become a sport for indoor velodrome, affecting countries like Jamaica which shifted to road racing. He said that the coming introduction of "cycling schools" in member countries of the UCI would restore the former status of the sport in the Caribbean and in Jamaica in particular.
Also attending the function were vice-president of the UCI José Manuel Pelaez Rodrigues, who is also president of the Pan American Cycling Federation; president of the JOA Mike Fennell; and president of the JCF Vaughn Phang; among others.
The JCF used the occasion to present achievement plaques to four leading cycling personalities in Jamaica – Maurice Hernandez, Arthur Tenn, Iona Wynter and Ricardo Lynch.
