We are rusty, Nigerian cyclists plead for competitions

Worried by the dearth of competitions, Lawson Ojo, captain of the Lagos State Cycling Association, on Monday pleaded with the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) to hold competitions for cyclists to participate.

Ojo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the body had not held major competitions in the previous year, hoping  that 2017 would be a better year for cycling.

“The NCF has to do something fast about this; we cannot continue to suffer in this alone.

“Many of my colleagues who are very passionate about the sport, are now discouraged due to the long absence in major cycling events.

“The facilities are not there for training and there are no competitions; many of us are tired after several years of individual training without competitions to test our abilities.

“I am certain of that because we have been communicating with each other in order to keep ourselves together on how we can go about our personal training to help develop ourselves,’’ he said.

He said that many cyclists in Lagos still train themselves irrespective of their non-participation in invitational tournaments.

“We expect the federation to encourage us by making extra effort to hold competitions at least to encourage us,” he said.

“Our interest is to have an enabling environment to practice freely with our mates from other states, socialise and collectively get inspired to build our career,” he said.