Darel Jr hanging with the cat 5 men in the Georgia State Games, Atlanta. Photo by David Thomas

ATLANTA, Georgia – BVI cyclists, Darel Christopher Jr., and Olympia Fahie competed for the first time on the US Mainland at the Georgia State Cycling Championships. The cyclists, along with tennis player, Deane Fonseca, are in Atlanta Georgia at the Dekalb International Training Center preparing for the upcoming Caribbean Junior Cycling Championships to be held in Barbados in August. The athletes where thrown straight into the competition by their DITC coach, John Kelly. “I needed to see where they are racing wise, and there’s no better way to do it than to race,” Kelly stated. The Championships, which is in its 17th year, attracts cyclists from all over the state of Georgia and the East Coast of the USA.

Darel Christopher was 19th in his race, and Olympia Fahie finished 8th in her event. “I was very impressed with what I saw today,” Coach Kelly stated. “They have good fundamentals. Some things need to be improved, but we will work on that…but I was very impressed.” Kelly entered both cyclists into the Category 5 division of the races. That division brought more cyclists, 32 male and 8 female respectively and longer courses. “I wanted to see how they would handle the longer distances since the juniors were only riding one lap.” BVI Cycling President, David Thomas, who accompanied the athletes to Atlanta, was also impressed with the cyclists.

Olympia climbing the hill to the finish at the Georgia State games, Atlanta. Photo by David Thomas

“Darel was good today. We know that he knows how to follow wheels so I wasn’t worried about if he could ride with the men,” Thomas stated. “I knew that the speeds would be faster so I was very impressed when I saw him still with the group coming to the finish. It was an up hill finish and that’s where they got him but he was right there with them.” And for Olympia…”The women every where you go seem like they like to ride Sunday strolls, and the girls were doing just that. Olympia was there with them on the first lap, but they dropped her on the 2nd. But it’s all about fitness, and the coach (Kelly) is very impressed with her…I think it’s going to be a great 6 weeks for them.”

The cyclists compete again tomorrow, July 8th.

BVI athletes with DITC Sports director, Murry Sanford(left) and coach John Kelly(middle) after the event. Photo by David Thomas

© Copyright 2003 BVI Cycling Federation

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