Combined Oceania Championships a great success
The Oceania Cycling Confederation (OCC), AusCycling, Tourism and Events Queensland, and the Brisbane Economic Development Agency recently hosted the first-ever combined Oceania Cycling Championships. The 2022 Championships ran from March 19 to April 10 as a part of the Brisbane Cycling Festival presented by King St.
Preliminary feedback by the OCC Executive has hailed the combined event as a success with review and refinement being considered for a re-run in 2023.
Oceania Championship titles were awarded across most cycling disciplines, including BMX Racing and Freestyle, Mountainbike (MTB) Cross Country and Downhill, Road Race and Time Trial, Track Cycling, and Para-cycling (road and track).
The Brisbane Cycling Festival also included a participation-focused, non-championship Gran Fondo event, which attracted over 4,000 entries.
OCC Annual General Meeting
On the final weekend of the Championships in Brisbane, the Oceania Cycling Confederation held their Annual General Meeting (AGM). As is currently common practice, it was a hybrid event with half the delegates participating via video link.
International Cycling Union President, David Lappartient, also joined in online and delivered an important address from the sport’s international perspective.
OCC President, Tony Mitchell, reported a successful year of operations from the confederation in 2021, despite COVID having had a significant effect in the cancellation of regional championships and other calendar events. During this time a strong focus was placed on development and many projects were able to be progressed. For the second year in a row a healthy surplus was returned with the Executive now considering additional projects for OCC investment.
Pacific Development Workshop
Following the AGM, a very successful development workshop was convened and attended by all nine Pacific member federations. It was particularly valuable to hear first-hand the progress and the challenges each nation was experiencing in the development of cycling in their region. This provided a great database for the application of future solidarity and development funds.
The workshop also addressed the athlete pathway strategies including the 2021 Pacific Cup (Road), which has been postponed to be held in December this year in Guam. It was also agreed to proceed with the scheduled 2023 Pacific Cup, which will add MTB Cross Country to the Road discipline. This event will be held in Tahiti in late October 2023 and will compliment Tahiti being host of the 2027 Pacific Games, where it is anticipated that cycling will return to the competition schedule in the Road and MTB disciplines.
OCC’s main strategic focus is supporting the solidarity funded development projects for Pacific member federations for sport and technical education. Two coaching courses will be held in 2022; one in Fiji in July for the south Pacific, and in Guam – coinciding with the Pacific Cup in December – for the north.