Speed Paradise ‘eye-opener’

The recent Speed Paradise Carnival of Speed cycling event successfully awarded UCI points, largely secured by an international contingent of cyclists, but served as a significant learning opportunity for local riders, according to chief organizer Robert Farrier.

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The opportunity was a great opportunity for our local riders. This year we actually had a higher-ranked calibre of riders competing. Our local riders were competitive but they were not able to podium (in most cases). That was a big eye-opener for them.

Farrier described the event, held at the National Cycling Velodrome, as a "big eye-opener" for local cyclists who competed against a higher-ranked caliber of international riders. While acknowledging that local riders were competitive, they were generally unable to secure podium finishes. The carnival saw dominance from riders across the Americas and Asia, with Colombian cyclists Kevin Quintero and Valeria Hernandez winning key events in the Men's sprint and Women's kierin, respectively. Trinidad and Tobago's top sprinter Nicholas Paul was absent from the meet.

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On his review which he did before he left, we had pass marks for everything in terms of the management of the race.

Despite the challenges faced by local competitors, the organizational aspects of the event received commendation. UCI commissaire Andrew Paradowski gave the event passing marks for race management. Farrier highlighted that the organizers achieved most of their objectives, including implementing a strong race management system and attracting world-class athletes, which also presented a valuable opportunity for sport tourism.

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We had different objectives we were trying to achieve; we achieved most of them. We had a good race management system; we had very good cyclists, world class; very good sport tourism opportunity.

However, Farrier expressed disappointment regarding the spectator turnout over the three days of racing. He stated that the crowd support "didn’t get a pass mark based on our post mortem." He believes that building the sport's popularity requires educating the public and fostering greater understanding of track cycling, drawing parallels to countries with high attendance at similar events. The results also showed strong performances from international riders in endurance events, with Cuban Mariles Mejias Garcia winning two races where Trinidad and Tobago's Teniel Campbell placed fifth and fourth.

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didn’t get a pass mark based on our post mortem.