Tour de Bim a resounding success

By Rawle Toney 

Alan Kelly, one of the key organisers behind the inaugural Tour de Bim, has celebrated the three-day cycling event as an outstanding success.

The October 6-8 event, sanctioned by the Barbados Cycling Union (BCU), drew some of the world’s elite riders to compete in three stages: the Pedal Loop at Warrens, the Pedal Jam at Bushy Park, and the Pedal Bim, a challenging island road race.

While Kelly readily acknowledges that there is room for improvement to enhance the experience for both racers and spectators, the initial staging of the event has met their expectations.

“What we did in this tour with the short space of time we put it together, I would say is an amazing feat,” Kelly told Barbados TODAY in an interview.

“The tour was excellent, the event was very safe and ran very well. We actually had some comments from some of the professionals from overseas, and they’re saying that some of our courses, were some of the best courses and road courses they have done for the last two or three years and they commended us on that.”

Kelly’s vision for Tour de Bim goes beyond its debut, with the aim of contributing to Barbados’ burgeoning sports tourism sector and aspiring to establish the region’s foremost cycling event.

“I think we’re poised. The positioning of this tour to run in conjunction with some of the races in the Caribbean, some of their tours, then the tour of Tobago, and then coming here, I think this is going to be a great event for the Caribbean.”

“I’ve already heard a lot of these professional teams saying they’re going to put it on their calendar for 2024 so they can get the budget in early so they can come here. So, we think it’s going to grow a lot from here,” Kelly noted.

Kelly thanked Barbados TODAY, Cheffette, Frosties, Urgent Care, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Chickmont, the BoatYard, Printmax, the Crane Resort, and numerous corporate entities for their contributions towards making Tour de Bim a success.

Eder Frayer, Mexico’s Tokyo 2020 Olympian, delivered an impressive performance to claim the Tour de Bim elite championship.

Frayer secured the championship with victory in the demanding Pedal Bim road race held on Sunday.

Riding for the Legion of Los Angeles team, Frayer began the Sunday race in third place overall, trailing behind Jonny Brown and Tanner Ward of the Miami Blazers.

He completed the challenging island loop ahead of the competition, leaving Barbadian Gregory Vanderpool and James Somerfeild to settle for second and third place respectively.

Tanner Ward crossed the finish line in fourth place, while Emile Abraham secured the fifth position.

Frayer accumulated a total of 93 points, including a fourth-place finish on Friday in Warrens, and back-to-back wins on Saturday at Bushy Park and the Road Race.

Ward finished second place overall with 82 points, closely followed by Brown with 80 points. Lucas Bourgoyne rounded out the top four with 72 points.

Frayer, who also claimed the lion’s share of the individual awards, praised the event’s organization, deeming it on par with some of the top-class events he has competed in worldwide.

Meanwhile, in the Division Two category, Ron Greaves established his dominance by winning the Road Race title, ultimately leading to his clinching of the overall championship trophy.

Greaves finished with a total of 98 points, leaving his competitors Daniel Lashey (86 points) and Allan Maynard (77 points) trailing behind.
rawletoney@barbadostoday.bb