Last Saturday marked the return of the OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships, an action-packed day of racing after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A totally of 24 teams took part, competing in three categories – the Club, Corporate and Women’s championships.

The Speedway Championships format features teams of four riders, split into two pairs, riding a total of ten laps around the one-kilometre Stadium Drive circuit. Two cyclists ride the first five laps before the change over to their team mates for the second half of the race. The winning time is the average of all four riders.

Said Koh Ching Ching, Head, Group Brand and Communications, OCBC Bank, “It’s so exciting to see the OCBC Cycle Speedway championships back in action. We thank all the cycling teams who have joined us today, in what is likely to be their first competitive ride in a long time.”

Club Speedway Championships

In the club championships, Allied World Racing (18:44.107) cruised to victory against second-placed ANZA Racing (18:49.347) and CyclingTraining.cc rounding off the podium (18:50.363). 

Said Reuben Bakker, 41, captain of Allied World Racing, “As one of the top tier race teams – or as we would like to think of ourselves, every time we go out there we put out our best performance. Luckily for us today, we were able to come out on top. You never expect to win. You expect to beat your competition and put yourself in a situation where you can come out on top.”

Added his team mate Jay Bridge, 51, “Winning by yourself is a good feeling, but winning with your team is an even better feeling. We really enjoy being involved in such a high level competition, with an even greater level of respect amongst competitors.”

After two years of Covid-19 which resulted in the cancellation of all sports events, it was good being back out there, said Reuben. He said, “It’s brilliant to be back and happy to be a part of competitive in-person events like OCBC Cycle. The race presents a unique opportunity to see the community out in force for a morning of hard riding.”

Corporate Speedway Championships

In the corporate category, the Singapore Cycling Federation (SCF) team emerged as the winners, clocking a time of 19:56.607.

Said SCF co-captain Ang Kee Meng, 35, “None of us prepared much for this race. We thought we had a good chance when we saw the lineup and from there, we tried to strategise and put in more effort. We assessed one another’s fitness and strengths and from there, we came up with a strategy. We’re really happy with the result and we can’t wait to celebrate after having a good night’s rest today first.”

OCBC Bank came in second (20:00.883) and Shimano rounded off the podium (20:01.547).

Women’s Speedway Championships

The day concluded with the inaugural women’s championships, where the NDS team emerged as the winners.

In a tactical race that came down to the final two laps, NDS outsmarted their opponents and finished with their riders in first and second place, with a timing of 23:26.937.

Said NDS captain Ava Woo, 32, “We actually came into the competition slightly nervous as the speedway championships was new to us and our team only decided to compete quite close to the race. Some of us are even Covid cyclists who picked up the sport only recently.”

She added, “With the rain in the lead-up to the race, we decided to go ahead and train in the rain, because that’s how much we wanted it. One of my biggest takeaways from this experience is building teamwork and navigating challenges together. I made more friends from this event and I will definitely be riding with them soon for our social rides.”

Second place ANZA clocked 23:30.217 and third placed Pedal Bellas rounded off the podium in 23:46.310.

Cheers and joy after the pandemic

Said Koh, “Regardless of who the winners are, it is cheers and joy for all being able to cycle this way again. With Singapore’s re-opening after the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone felt like a winner.”

Following the Speedway Championships, the OCBC Cycle continued last Sunday with the City Ride mass-participation event, virtual rides and the Spin Ride by CRU.