Led by national champion Thanakan Chaiyasombat, the four-man Thai team completed the 10km event in a blistering 17 minutes and 47 seconds, with Indonesia and Malaysia coming in second and third
Singapore, 11 May 2024 – Thailand overcame stiff competition from Indonesia and Malaysia to be crowned champions at OCBC Cycle’s Speedway SEA Championships.
Led by national champion Thanakan Chaiyasombat, the four-man Thai team completed the 10km event in a blistering 17 minutes and 47 seconds. Indonesia came in second at 18 minutes and 5 seconds, with Malaysia in third in 18 minutes and 23 seconds.
The Malaysians narrowly edged out Vietnam to third place by 0.28 seconds, and Singapore came home in fifth place, missing out on the podium by one second.
Mr Chaiyasombat, 24, who will be representing Thailand at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, said: “Our strategy for winning the race was to make sure that we played our cards right. There were moments in the race when we felt that we could have lost. But we stuck to our strategy to close up any breakaways and exploited any gaps as we pushed for the finish line.”
The SEA Championships saw nine of the best national cyclists from the region vie for the title for the first time since 2019. In addition, more than 20 teams took part in the OCBC Cycle Speedway Club and Corporate Championships.
Club Championships: Quantum Racing makes it a three-peat
Quantum Racing, formerly Allied World Racing, successfully defended the Club crown they held since 2022, in the face of the tough challenge from past winner Specialized Dynasty Mavericks and last year’s third-placed Team Garcia. In a dominant performance, Quantum Racing A and B took home first and third place respectively, with returning finalists matadorRACING coming in second.
Mr Reuben Bekker, 43, team captain of Quantum Racing A, said: “We’re extremely happy with the great work we’ve done since the pandemic, and holding onto the crown for three consecutive years. Every year is a new challenge as the younger crop of talent emerge stronger.
Our objective this year was to make it through each round. Having a strategy to try to advance and then let the results on the track speak for themselves. This year we had great competition who really pushed the entire race, all three rounds.
With our age and experience, we put ourselves in the best position to win and were able to pull off the win."
Corporate Championships: Team OCBC storms to victory for a second year in a row
Team OCBC was unscathed from a pile-up in the first half of the race to comfortably take home the crown against past champion SCDF Cycling Team and Team AWS. This marks the second successive time Team OCBC took home the crown at the OCBC Speedway Corporate Championships.
Mr Donald Macdonald, a member of winning team, said: “OCBC has been holding this event for 16 years in Singapore. As such, there’s pressure on us as staff to bring the championship home, but we’re really happy to be able to defend the crown and we’re really looking forward to doing it again and going for the triple next year!”
Mighty Savers Kids and Family Rides
More than 300 young participants between the ages of 2 to 12 years old also took to the roads on Stadium Drive in the OCBC Cycle’s Mighty Savers® Kids and Family Rides. Among these participants were 43 less-privileged children from OCBC’s Teach-a-Child-to-Cycle corporate social responsibility programme.
These beneficiaries, aged between 8 to 12 years old, were carefully selected through partners Care Corner Singapore, SportCares, and Beyond Social Services. They were taught fundamental cycling skills from Singapore Cycling Federation’s coaches over the course of three training sessions. In addition, Decathlon donated a brand-new bicycle for each beneficiary, as well as safety gear worth $100, to equip them for their burgeoning cycling careers.
Siti Nur Alysha Binte Ahmad Azrin, 9, one of the 43 beneficiaries from Teach-A-Child-To-Cycle, said: “I’m very happy to be able to learn how to cycle, and take part in the Mighty Savers® Kids and Family Rides. The trainers and volunteers who helped us learn to cycle were very kind and Teach-a-Child-to-Cycle has made me more interested in sports. I hope to continue cycling after the event!”
OCBC Cycle 2024 continued with The Sportive 40km Ride, The Foldie Ride by Brompton, and The Straits Times 20km Rides on 12 May, and with the 100km Virtual Ride and 500km Virtual Ride from 11 May till 10 June.
More details on OCBC Cycle 2024 can be found on www.ocbccycle.com.