Jamaica Cycling Federation to introduce ranking points system

This was disclosed by Dr Wayne Palmer, who is the president of the Jamaica Cycling Federation (JCF).

Dr Palmer was speaking Sunday at the Elevation Cycling Club development race meet held in Clarendon where he served as Commissaire.

“At the end of the day we can look and say this rider is the best in Jamaica. Or this one (rider) is rank (number) two or three,” he explained.

“It makes a difference because in a one-off race sometimes a rider is not in the best form, sometimes he gets a flat tyre like what happen to Jaequan (Dixon) today and that doesn’t speak the whole truth about how well he can ride.

“So over a series of races if we can allocate points then we can have an idea of who is the best rider. It also helps us when it comes to the selection process for riders to represent the country and travel overseas.

“So we’ll be putting out more (information) with regards to that in the near future.”

The Elevation Cycling Club is arguably the leading local cycling club in Jamaica since its establishment in 2021. Each year the club, with its base in Old Harbour, stage a series of development meets which comes with multiple benefits for the sport, the club and cyclists.

This announcement is already receiving general acceptance, as the move should remove any controversy when it comes to national selection as Dr Palmer stated.

Obviously the JCF will be guided by the cycling world governing body’s own points ranking system, the finer details of which will be revealed at a later date.

One of the key benefits presumably from now is that local races are likely to become more competitive even if prize payout remains low, which is likely to be the case given the poor financial support these clubs received to stage races.

But to be ranked as the top rider of cycling team in Jamaica is a major incentive that should never be underestimated.

Velana Creary, president of the Elevation Cycling Club, calls the pronouncement a step in the right direction, while reigning national senior champion Jerome Forrest, says it’s a “very, very good idea”.

Forrest, 28, who represents the Elevation Cycling Club, said: “A lot of times riders are consistent; and you don’t want one man that is consistent on a day he just had a bad day and the man that is not consistent win one of the most important races like the national championship. I can talk from personal experience because I have had some bad days caused by mechanical problems and a man come win national champion and that’s the only race him ride.”