Jamaica’s top cycling prodigy Jaequan Dixon wins first senior title

Yesterday’s final race event on the club’s calendar brought the curtains down in climatic fashion and left tongues wagging about the future prospects of undoubtedly Jamaica’s most prodigious cycling talent at present.

Dixon, a native of Old Harbour Glades, timed his moment perfectly in the final few metres in this six-lap (36 miles) course between Mineral Heights and Jamalco to pip the experienced Peter Thompson on the line.

Barenton Bailey was a close third, while Damaine Douglas – another youth prospect for the country – and former national senior champion Jerome Forrest finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The final showdown of the day carried plenty of hype leading up to the start after Thompson of Portland, took the Elite 1-3 Category, staving off the challenge of Elevation club pair of Dixon and Forrest.

With 15 riders taking the starter’s command, the trio of Thompson, Bailey, also of Elevation, and Dixon broke from the pack from the first lap heading back to Mineral Heights. From that moment the top three was already decided barring any unforeseen circumstances. The lead was shared among all three during a very tactical battle of race nous and mental toughness before Dixon made his move approximately 50 metres from the finish line.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Dixon, a recent graduate of St Catherine High School, credit his level of preparation leading up to the event, while noting it gave him the confidence going up against his more accomplished seniors.

“It’s always best to be in the break than the chasing pack. Its three of us in the break and it’s best to work together till the end because it’s gonna be harder for one man to ride leave two (riders).

“I’ve been sprinting for a long while, I know what I’m capable of and I just pull it off at the right time.

“I’m going to be doing more training because I know my opponents they are coming.

“I wasn’t paying much attention to that (time) to be honest. The only target was to win and that’s what I did.”

In other events, Kirk Finnikin took the Master category ahead of Bailey and Alton Duhaney, while Charles Joseph beat back the challenge of Patrick Whyne and Wayne Smith to win the Super Masters.

Jaheim Hall, one of the newest members to join the Old Harbour-based Elevation team, took the All Comers category ahead of club mates Chevan Matthie and Chavez Taylor.

Janneille Morgan was the sole female rider on the day, while 14-year-old Noel Douglas won the children category from Frank Arnold and Mario Whyte who suffered mechanical issues with his bike.

Meantime, Tariq Azeem, missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Jamaica, was most pleased with what he witnessed.

“It is always so good to see the youths pushing themselves to cross that line. It was just so amazing to see. We were all happy and excited and cheering, not necessarily for the person, but to see that competition. It was so beautiful to see,” says the Islamic Imam.

“This is an investment into our youth not into any particular one individual and we always look forward to more opportunities to help the youth and the serve the youth I would say.

“I have been saying to the directors and executives [of Elevation Cycling Club] that this is our first annual race. We don’t want it be the only race. We want to make it an annual event that we carry out every year.

“It’s good to see the amount of cyclists that came out and I hope that in the future we get even more cyclists inspired to come and join and to participate.”

Sheriel Brown of Sheriel International Ministry of Hope Inc Ltd, fulfilled her promise to make a special donation to the Elevation riders, and was satisfied as well.

“It’s a wonderful experience and it was an amazing opportunity to be here, and I consider it an honour to be here.

“Anything to enhance the youth I’m there for it. And I will put in as much as I can with this team along with others.”

The club will close out the year with a cake sale on December 20 at its Bodles Crescent headquarters, and according to its president Velana Creary all proceeds from this initiative will go towards financing the club’s preparation for scheduled international events next year.

“We need to get our club and our riders competing at the highest level. Cycling may not be as popular as football or track and field, but you can definitely earn a living from the sport. We have some of the best riders in the country in our club and our goal is to propel them to the pinnacle of cycling, and hopefully that will inspire our youth to join the club and repeat the same feat and be an inspiration to the next generation.

“We are happy that today’s race concluded without any injuries and I must use this opportunity to implore corporate Jamaica to come on board and support our club. It’s a win-win for everybody,” Creary said.