KUALA LANGAT: They had just arrived from a race in Indonesia on Saturday, and will return to the republic today for another tournament, but their whirlwind schedule did not stop them from clinching the first spot in the New Straits Times (NST) C-Cycle Challenge 2018 Team Cycling open category.
Mohd Nor Umardi Rosdi, who was one of the seven cyclists in the Terengganu Cycling Team, said they were in Indonesia, participating in one of the Union Cycliste Internationale tour competitions.
The team, he said, would be making its way back to Indonesia tomorrow to join another international cycling tournament.
“We might not have any time to celebrate our victory in the NST C-Cycle Challenge, but it’s all worth it,” said Nor.
Commenting on the NST C-Cycle event, he lauded the organisers for the smooth implementation of the programme.
He hoped the challenge would continue in the future.
“This is a good programme, it benefits the cycling communities.
“Today everything went smoothly, the choice of the location was good. The course was also good and more importantly, it is being held on a weekend, so it does not cause much disruption of traffic,” he said.
The champion for the Senior Men’s open category, Tsen Seong Hoong, 49, concurred with Nor, adding that the Eco Show House at Eco Sanctuary, Kota Kemuning, was also a great place to hang around after completing the race.
“The course was wonderful, the police did their job very well. So everything from the beginning until the end of the challenge went well,” he said.
Tsen, who is a former national cyclist, said he left cycling for more than 10 years and only started again two years ago.
“I retired in 2003. Before that I was in the Malaysian squad for 15 years. I only came back two years ago because my 15-year-old son is also into the sport.
“He needed someone to guide him so that is how I started to get on my bike again professionally,” said the 1995 SEA Games gold medal winner.
Tsen took home the RM2,500 top prize in his category, saying he would give the prize money as reward to his wife.
As for Jupha Somnet, 25, who won the women’s open category, the race was another training ground for her since she is a national cyclist.
The Asian Track Championships gold medalist said although she felt a little pressured, she was glad to be able to top the race just within three hours for the 160km Century Ride.
“I was quite worried as I could not really train for the race since I just finished competing in the Asian Games three weeks ago. But I’m happy I was able to push through,” she said.
Jupha also said the event was a perfect outing as the organisers had also prepared good food and a tent offering sport massages for participants.
She hoped that more women would take up cycling to live a healthy lifestyle.