Hartwell: Easter Grand Prix a crucial Cycling event

JOEL BAILEY

LOCAL CYCLISTS will have to seek alternative means of competition if the 2018 Easter Grand Prix is cancelled, according to Erin Hartwell, technical director of cycling at the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SPORTT).

It was reported on yesterday’s Newsday that the annual Easter Grand Prix may not take place this year as the TT Cycling Federation (TTCF) plans for 2018 have been scuppered because of debts incurred due to the hosting of the 2017 Pan Am Track Cycling Championships, at the National Cycling Centre in Couva. TTCF president Robert Farrier said the Government promised $1 million towards the venture but has not paid a cent as yet.

Hartwell, in an interview yesterday, said TT’s top male sprinters won’t be affected by the uncertainty of the 2018 Easter Grand Prix, but admitted he and other riders were looking forward to that event.

“To be fair, if I’m talking about the national men’s sprint team that’s under the hierarchy of the (TTCF), those riders would actually be at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia between March 26 and April 10. Whether the Easter Grand Prix happens or not, that doesn’t impact our particular group.”

The riders preparing for the Commonwealth Games include Njisane Phillip, Nicholas Paul, Kwesi Browne and Keron Bramble.

“Events like the Easter Grand Prix, while important, aren’t really having an impact on our sprint programme this year,” he continued. “That said, the Easter Grand Prix is an incredibly important event to develop our national team’s athletes. It’s been a target for some of our track endurance athletes (and) some of our developmental sprinters. It’s an event that I was looking forward to seeing them compete.”

The Canadian-born Hartwell, a former world and Olympic record holder, added, “It also gives us the chance to test their form at a critical time of the year when we’re looking forward to go into our racing season. It’s going to be a bit more difficult for me to assess where these athletes are because they don’t have a tangible event to target.”

Hartwell said after the Commonwealth Games, the men’s sprint team will set their sights on gaining UCI points to earn qualification for the 2018-2019 UCI World Cup. “We’re targeting races, one in Trinidad at the end of May – Fire on Wheels – and then a three-week racing series in Tinseltown, Pennsylvania, which is one of the most competitive series in the world,” he said.

He said the track endurance riders are currently preparing for the CAC Games and the Pan Am Championships.

“Those three events we are targeting when we’re looking at our overall training plan,” he added. “Was the Easter Grand Prix a part of it? Absolutely. Will we make adjustments? Of course, which they’ll have to do as a national programme. There is always a spanner in the works.”

About the Commonwealth Games-bound team, Hartwell said, “It’s been going extremely well. We came back from (the World Cup in) Belarus on January 23 with the most successful campaign in TT history as a team, with a seventh-place in the team sprint and two fifth-places in the individual sprint kierin; Nicholas Paul and Kwesi Browne. Njisane (Phillip) set a national record in the men’s team sprint start position. So we had a golden event in Belarus.”