After an amazing showing at the recent inaugural Caribbean Cycling Championships on home soil, the only four women on the 19-member national team wish there were more women on the team.
“It was just the four of us on the TT team. We want more females in the sport,” Alexia Wilson said.
The team competed against participants from Cuba, Barbados, Jamaica, St Lucia, Suriname and Antigua, copping a total of 29 medals, ten of which were won by Alexi Costa-Ramirez, Adrianna Seyjagat, Phoebe Sandy and Wilson.
“I think it was a really good opportunity to have an event at this level on our home track because the crowd obviously was for us. It felt really good going around the track and hearing the crowd saying our names, encouraging us to go faster. It definitely contributed to the number of medals we were able to bring home for TT,” Costa-Ramirez told WMN.
“And that way we didn’t have to adjust to the tracks because we already knew everything about it,” Sandy added.
For Seyjagat and Wilson, this event was their first time participating in an international event, with both describing it as an honour to having made it on home soil.
“Doing it at home was a great way to dip your toes into the international competition pool. It was a really good learning experience for me,” Wilson said.
[caption id="attachment_986630" align="alignnone" width="895"] Adrianna Seyjagat -[/caption]
Seyjagat, Costa-Ramirez and Sandy formed part of the 19-and-over elite team, while Wilson competed in the junior category.
Costa-Ramirez, 27, is an endurance athlete, while the others are sprinters. Endurance cyclists go long distance whereas sprinters cycle extremely fast for shorter distances.
“I basically started cycling six years ago because of my dad. He is big into it, and I borrowed one of his bikes and started training and the rest is history. I am currently based in the US and I cycle here professionally with CWA Racing, a Florida-based club.
“I left TT at the end of 2020, basically during covid lockdown. The lockdown made it hard to train so I left. Right now I’m getting ready for my 2023 season,” she said.
Seyjagat told WMN she has been cycling since she was five, after being introduced to the sport by one of her cousins. Now 21, she trains with the Arima Wheelers Cycle Club.
Sandy started riding in 2018 and has never regretted it.
“I’ve always loved bikes and used to customise them. Through a friend I joined the Madonna Wheelers cycling club in Arima and it (cycling) is my life at the moment,” she said.
Wilson, a fifth form student at Bishop Anstey High School East, became a cyclist for more of a medical reason but shares the same love for the sport as her team-mates.
“When I went into primary school I was diagnosed with ADHD and the doctors advised my parents to get me into a sport to burn up the energy. But I still have plenty energy,” she chuckled.
She attended an Arima Wheelers camp and has been cycling for over ten years. But, like Costa-Ramirez, her passion for cycling may also have its roots in geneti
