Speed Paradise, Carnival of Speed International Cycling set for June 19-21

TEAM Drive Phase Sport (DPS) managing director Robert Farrier is promising that fans will "feel the speed and witness it live" when the Speed Paradise and Carnival of Speed International Cycling Grand Prix events are hosted at the National Cycling Centre, Balmain, Couva from June 19-21. The cycling meets were launched at the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua on June 4.

DPS is hosting the events in collaboration with the Sports Company of TT and is a Union Cycliste International (UCI) class one event, giving local and international cyclists a great opportunity to score crucial world ranking points ahead of the UCI Track World Championships in Santiago, Chile in October.

Having previously hosted the Speed Paradise and Carnival of Speed events in 2023 and 2024, Farrier said the execution of the events encouraged UCI to upgrade the meets from class two to class one status on this occasion. Farrier said the budget for this year's meets are $250,000, with mandatory prize money involved for the cyclists. An international connoisseur will also be on hand to oversee the proceedings.

With registration for the upcoming meets closing on June 15, the DPS officials confirmed that cyclists from over 10 countries have already confirmed their participation. The event will see cyclists from countries such as Argentina, Canada, Great Britain, India, Mexico, Slovakia, Sweden and Caribbean countries Barbados, Jamaica and Suriname. Not to be left out, the local cyclists are also eager to show their mettle, with DPS confirming that over 20 TT cyclists have also registered for the meets thus far.

Veteran cyclist Njisane Phillip is among those who will be competing at the grand prix, alongside former junior standout Makaira Wallace, who sped into form in her maiden year as an elite women's cyclist by setting a national record of 10.784 seconds in the flying 200-metre at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Turkey in March. At the 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships in China, Wallace copped silver medals in both the 500-metre time trial and keirin events.

Jelani Nedd, another rising star on the cycling track, will also be participating in the games and will be representing Team DPS as well. At the Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Peru in 2024, Nedd helped the TT team to an eight-medal haul as he was a member of the men's team which earned sprint silver, to go along with silver in the individual sprint event.

"The athletes around the world see it fit to come here in June because the deadline for the World Championships qualification is September 9. Now is the time to have an event that will attract athletes who want to qualify for the World Championships," Farrier said.

Meanwhile, ace TT cyclist Nicholas Paul, who claimed three gold medals at the Elite Pan Am Track Cycling Championships in Paraguay on April, has not put forward his name for the meet just yet. However, Farrier said Paul is in the country at this time and is confident he will register before the deadline.

"The top cyclists are going to come, those who are on the borderline to qualify. We will get athletes ranked in the top 25 or 20-35 in the world, who are top-ranked athletes. Our young athletes developing in that aspect, now have the opportunity to compete amongst those athletes around the world. They don't have to go a place. This is not fun and games for them. This is the pathway for them."

Some of the international cyclists who will be on show are the Great Britain trio of Rhian Edmunds, Marcus Hiley and Iona Moir, Canada's James Hedgcock, Tyler Rorke, Emy Savard, as well as Sweden's Gustav Johansson. Jamaica's Dahlia Palmer, a bronze-medallist in the women's keirin at the 2023 Pan Am Games, will be competing as a member of the DPS squad.

Farrier said the upcoming events will be something for spectators to behold and has urged corporate TT to support DPS in its venture.