When I wrote an article for Spin Asia magazine late last year about the cancellation of the 2014 Singapore National Road Racing Cycling Championships, probably the only positive thing to come out of the story was correspondence from the Singapore Cycling Federation (SCF) stating not only would the National Championships be revived in 2015, but that the SCF also had plans for a further three weekends of road racing. The federation even provided dates for all those races, albeit with a “provisional” tag attached.
As we approach the end of 2015, it is my sad duty to report that none of these races happened, which meant that for the second year in a row Singapore’s best cyclists were denied the opportunity to vie for the honour of claiming the prestigious National Champions’ jerseys; a truly lamentable state of affairs. That there was no official announcement or explanation regarding this non-event just made the situation even more disappointing.
But instead of writing another downbeat article on the state of Singapore road cycling I approached the newly appointed SCF Honorary Secretary Dr Hing Siong Chen and the Vice-President for Road Cycling Bastian Dohling – both took their roles in mid-October along with nine new committee members – to see if they’d be willing to sit down and talk about what they planned to do to try and fix a system that is obviously broken. Communication, or lack of it, was one of the main gripes Singapore cyclists had with the previous SCF regime so it was refreshing when the two new office bearers eagerly agreed to meet.
The two-hour informal discussion that resulted did yield many promising developments but there are no guarantees that Siong, Dohling and Co will find it any easier than their predecessors to improve the lot of local road racing enthusiasts in the light of the regulatory and financial hurdles that have long faced competitive cycling in Singapore. However, after talking to the two men it is clear that there is hope as they both have a passion for cycling and a drive to dramatically improve the situation.
Click here to read the full, very long, feature on www.cycleasia.com
As we approach the end of 2015, it is my sad duty to report that none of these races happened, which meant that for the second year in a row Singapore’s best cyclists were denied the opportunity to vie for the honour of claiming the prestigious National Champions’ jerseys; a truly lamentable state of affairs. That there was no official announcement or explanation regarding this non-event just made the situation even more disappointing.
But instead of writing another downbeat article on the state of Singapore road cycling I approached the newly appointed SCF Honorary Secretary Dr Hing Siong Chen and the Vice-President for Road Cycling Bastian Dohling – both took their roles in mid-October along with nine new committee members – to see if they’d be willing to sit down and talk about what they planned to do to try and fix a system that is obviously broken. Communication, or lack of it, was one of the main gripes Singapore cyclists had with the previous SCF regime so it was refreshing when the two new office bearers eagerly agreed to meet.
The two-hour informal discussion that resulted did yield many promising developments but there are no guarantees that Siong, Dohling and Co will find it any easier than their predecessors to improve the lot of local road racing enthusiasts in the light of the regulatory and financial hurdles that have long faced competitive cycling in Singapore. However, after talking to the two men it is clear that there is hope as they both have a passion for cycling and a drive to dramatically improve the situation.
Click here to read the full, very long, feature on www.cycleasia.com
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