50 Thursday 19 March 2009 ●

THE NEW PAPER THE NEW PAPER Thursday 19 March 2009

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51

Sports Cycling
TOUROFSINGAPORENEXT?
“As with all things, time is a key factor in developing a good product. Sporting events need
Kranji Way
careful planning and organisation to ensure that all parties involved get the best experience
Mandai Rd out of the event. The success of the inaugural OCBC Cycle Singapore (below) is the first step
Neo Tiew Rd
towards the revival of cycling in Singapore and the event organiser will be able to take the
Sembawang Yio Chu learning from this year to ensure a bigger and better event in future years. The immediate
Lim Chu Kang Rd Rd Kang Rd Loyang Ave
Pasir Ris Dr 3
Teluk Paku Rd focus now is to sustain this upward swing in cycling and we will consider an event of a larger
Upper Thomson
Rd
Tampines
Rd
scale when all factors are in place and when the time is right.”
Old – Kelven Tan, chief, Sports Marketing Group, Singapore Sports Council
Jalan Bahar Hougang Tampines
Ave 2 Rd

Changi Coast Rd
Xilin Ave

Jalan Boon Lay Bedok Rd

Mountbatten
Rd
Jalan Buroh Nicoll H’way Upper East Coast Rd
Kg Bahru Rd
Mt Faber Rd START/END
F1 Pit Building,
West Coast Esplanade Dr Raffles Ave
H’way
Robinson Rd
COMPETITIVE DECADE: Avid cyclist
Cantonment Ahmad Taman.
Rd

TourofSingapore
TOUR OF SINGAPORE?
THE PROPOSED 120KM ROUTE
Start: F1 Pit Building
Nicoll Highway
Mounbatten Road
East Coast Road
Loyang Road
Pasir Ris Drive 3
Tampines Ave 10
Old Tampines Road
Kranji Way
Neo Tiew Road
Lim Chu Kang Road
Jalan Bahar
Kampong Bahru Road
Cantonment Road
Anson Road
Robinson Road
A champ
AFTER taking into consideration the
routes of the past Tour of Singapore and
Victor Yew, president of Singapore
Upper East Coast Road
Bedok Road
Upper Changi Road
Hougang Ave 2
Yio Chu Kang Road
Upper Thomson Road
Boon Lay Way
Jalan Buroh
West Coast Highway
Fullerton Road
Esplanade Drive
Raffles Boulevard
recalls
Xilin Ave Sembawang Road Pasir Panjang Road End: F1 Pit Building
Amateur Cycling Association’s BEFORE OCBC Cycle Singapore, there was the
Changi Coastal Road Mandai Road Telok Blangah Road
suggestions, JOYCE LIM comes up with Changi Village Kranji Road Mount Faber Park now defunct Pesta Sukan Tour of Singapore in
this route which is approximately 120km. the 1980s and 1990s.
TNP GRAPHICS: LEE HUP KHENG The massive cycling event attracted riders
from Malaysia and Thailand and it was usually
SELLING held in July and August every year.

Le Tour de SINGA-
PORE: A
major
international
“It was the only event I looked forward to
every year,” said avid cyclist Ahmad Taman.
The 43-year-old, who now works as a mechan-
ic, had been competing in Tour of Singapore

A sporting boost
yearly since 1984 to 1993.
cycling event

Singapour?
In 1988, Ahmad came in first in the Teams
can showcase
(Seniors) event where he cycled more than
Singapore’s
120km.
cityscape.
The Senior category is equivalent to the Elite
Below, Victor

for slow economy

category, explained Ahmad.
Yew.
JOYCE LIM ing into that. It could be next year PICTURES: He said: “Back then, there were already many
npsports@sph.com.sg or the following years. We are still COURTESY OF cycling clubs like Geylang, 7-Eleven, Zrna, Cairn-
at the very preliminary stage of SPECTRUM hil and The Beach Boys.
WORLDWIDE

L
AST YEAR we saw how the
Formula One cars raced un-
der perfect lighting against
Singapore’s beautiful cityscape at
night.
And just last month, we had 65
international riders battling it out
at the OCBC Cycle Singapore on
their two-wheelers on part of the
same circuit that hosted Singa-
pore’s inaugural F1 Grand Prix.
Come next year, will we see
another major sporting event cap-
italising on Singapore’s unique
cityscape?
After all, OCBC Cycle Singa-
pore was an instant hit which saw
5,400 riders and some
world-class riders pedalling on
our tarmac for the first time.
Hence, why not a Tour of Sin-
gapore next year?
It’s not a pipe dream, we were
told, for such an event is indeed
in the pipeline.
Said Victor Yew, 42, president
of Singapore Amateur Cycling As-
sociation (SACA): “We are look-
discussion.”
Yew is optimistic and hopeful
of his dream to revive Tour of
Singapore which ended its run in
the 1990s due to a lack of spon-
sors.
He said: “To have a longer
road race will definitely cost
more. We will need to put up
more barricades and engage
more marshals on the road.
“It would easily cost about
$1.5 million for a two-day event.”
The OCBC Cycle Singapore
cost $1m to stage.
Unlike OCBC Cycle Singapore
where the routes ranged from
5km to 50km, the Tour of Singa-
pore will definitely be a longer
road race – about 120km to
150km.
The oldest and most prestig-
ious cycling event, the Tour de
France attracts cyclists from
around the world to race over
3,500km and usually lasts 23 days
every year.
Yew said: “We will be able to
showcase Singapore’s beautiful
and unique landscape. Instead of
riding up the mountains with
bushes by the sides of the roads,
we can have the riders riding into
the Central Business District,
down Shenton Way, past the Mer-
lion, the Singapore Flyer and the
Esplanade.
“The Old Thomson Road and
Sembawang areas are quite hilly.
The riders can also ride up Mount
Faber. They will see another side
of Singapore that they’ve never
seen before.
“In fact, the professional rid-
ers who came for OCBC Cycle
Singapore told me that they were
happy with the logistics and that
it is one of the best cycling events
they have attended.”
Thrill
Said Chris Robb, managing di-
rector of Spectrum Worldwide
and organiser of OCBC Cycle Sin-
gapore 2009: “In order to make it
different, and to allow Singapore-
ans to experience the thrill of
road cycling, a ‘Tour of Singa-
pore’ could be predominantly ur-
ban which would allow many Sin-
gaporeans the opportunity to wit-
ness large portions of the race.”
With the Tour de France over
23 days and the Tour of Langkawi
races over seven days, Robb is
hoping that the future OCBC Cy-
cle Singapore will be a week-long
cycling festival, with
round-the-island race like a
“Tour of Singapore”.
He said: “Spectrum World-
wide was working closely with
SACA and Singapore Sports Coun-
cil while planning OCBC Cycle
Singapore and we will be working
with them again next year.”
Professional riders
“I was representing Shimano team and there
were four of us in the team. The races were very
competitive as we were racing with professional
riders from Malaysia and Thailand.”
In his decade of competitive cycling, Ahmad
won four medals in the Tour of Singapore races.
Every year the cyclists would race on a slightly
different route, but the distance remained the
same, between 120km and 150km, Ahmad re-
called.
He said: “We would cycle from the National
Stadium towards the east... Mountbatten Road,
Bedok, Changi Coastal Road, then head up north
to Woodlands, Sembawang, Jalan Bahar, Tan-
jong Pagar, cut across the Central Business Dis-
trict and back to the national stadium.
“The roads were not totally closed for the
event. We were escorted by traffic police who
a would move ahead of us to stop the traffic at
traffic junctions. After we cycled past, the traffic
would resume.”
When told that the Tour of Singapore may be
revived, Ahmad said: “It’s going to be a difficult
task as we have more traffic lights and more cars
now. On a smaller scale perhaps.”
– JOYCE LIM
More than 100 corporate leaders attended last night’s fourth Singapore Sports Council CEO
Networking Session at the F1 Pit Building. Here are some of the things they said
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan,
Minister for Community
Development, Youth and
Sports:
“Despite the economic clouds, we remain
optimistic about the development of
sports in Singapore. We can find examples
of new deals that confirm the long-term
strength of the global sports market.
“The value of our sports industry
passed the $1 billion mark in 2007.
Notwithstanding the current economic
crisis, we are still aggressively working
towards a $2b GDP contribution by the
sports industry by 2015, along with the
goal of creating 20,000 sports-related jobs.
“We had some success in attracting
several international sports companies in
Singapore, from MP & Silva – an
international sports agency that owns,
manages and distributes sports
programmes, including media rights to
the Italian Football League in Asia – to Life
Fitness, one of the world’s top fitness
equipment and solutions provider with a
design centre in Singapore.”
Oon Jin Teik, chief
executive officer of
Singapore Sports
Council (SSC):
“Years ago, we talked about the need for a
sports culture. Well, we’ve got one today
that’s building up nicely, even during the
economic downturn.
“We talked about sports’ benefits for
society – and now we know first-hand
how sports can unite a nation. We were
thrilled when Singapore won the hosting
rights to the inaugural Youth Olympic
Games.
“We talked about the need for sporting
heroes. We’ve got them.
“In the past year, we have become
familiar with athletes who have
triumphed on the world stage, including
the Beijing Olympics.
“SSC will be calling a Request for
Proposals for the Changi Motorsports
Hub by the end of this month.”
Kelven Tan, chief sports
marketing group, SSC:
“This year over 600 sporting events will be
held in Singapore as sports has come to
dominate the event horizon, from
international ranking championships to
community social gatherings.
“Never underestimate the passion of a
sports fan to drive growth.
“Running, for example, continues to
top the list of most popular sports in
Singapore.
“Singapore now has 43 running events,
11 marathon or cross-country races and
13 triathlons-duathlons-aquathlons. This
does not include the fact that every
secondary school holds a cross-country
race. Moreover, we close roads for races.
We rearrange our lives for sports.”
– JOYCE LIM