Cycling Community Seeks Establishment of Academies to Attract Young Athletes 

Oluchi Chibuzor 

A cycling community, PitStop Lagos, has called for more cycling academies across the country to attract more young riders.

Speaking at a criterium tagged “60 for 60KM race” held in his honour, a cycling enthusiast and managing partner of Solola and Akpana, Iboroma Akpana, called for establishing more cycling academies across the country.

He stressed at the Pitstop Lagos August 2024 criterium held to mark his 60th birthday anniversary, that “Eritrea has a grassroots programme for its athletes. That’s why they are a strong country. We need to create a local programme and more academies just like PitStop Lagos.

“We’ve adopted a model in the PitStop community where the sport is built around the athletes. In the meantime, we need to replicate the PitStop community idea across states of the country, thereby opening up the sport more. I’m extremely delighted to the community, and it is humbling to have the criterium held in my honour,” he further observed.

Iboroma, an Independent Non-Executive Director at Access Bank Plc, emphasised that cycling should not be seen as an elitist sport but should be viewed from the grassroots lens to develop more talents across the country.

According to him, “When you turn 60, it is the diamond jubilee. The ageing process is a natural thing. I’m identified in the cycling community in Lagos. I have been involved in grassroots cycling for over 20 years. As long as we do not turn cycling into an elitist sport, we are bound to find exceptional athletes or cyclists at the grassroots.”

The criterium saw Innocent Emmanuel emerging as the winner, while Bassey Okon and Zakariyu Faruq emerged as second and third respectively

Other winners include Diepreye Jackbara and Chisom Oveh emerging fourth and fifth respectively as various winners were rewarded with cash prizes.