The Oceania Cycling Confederation (OCC) is pleased to announce the 2019 Pacific Open Road and Mountain Bike Calendar.

Introduced in 2018 the Pacific Open Road and Mountain Bike Calendar supports the development of road and mountain bike cycling in the Pacific and creates a running series of important events for riders to compete in and develop across the Oceania region.

Following a successful first edition featuring seven events across the calendar grows to nine for 2019. The series opens with two Mountain Bike races before seven road events including National Tours of Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, New Caledonia and Guam. The full calendar can be found here.

The Calendar commenced in March, at the Guam Mountain Bike Cross-country Championships, with Jonathan Martin and Leilani Chargualaf taking win’s in the elite men’s and women’s races respectively.

“The Pacific Calendar is very important to the development of cycling in the Oceania region. Awareness of what our fellow Pacific island countries are doing with regards to cycling events is key to encouraging participation. The growth of the number of events is significant and also illustrates the work the Oceania Cycling Confederation has been putting forth,” said OCC Vice President Pacific, Eric Tydingco.

“The National Tours have been around for quite a number of years. But the fact that they continue on and expand in participation numbers is encouraging for each country. It shows that the sport is growing in the respective countries of these events, and in some cases, attracting visiting athletes.

“The establishment, development and promotion of the Pacific calendar is a critical initiative in developing the athlete pathway for Pacific cyclists”, said OCC Pacific Development Manager Graham Fredericks. “It is about presenting opportunity for higher competition as well as developing rider skills and experience.

“These events can also present a unique experience for developing riders from Australia and New Zealand,” he added.

The Pacific Open Road and Mountain Bike Calendar has been developed as part of “Cycling Pacific”, the OCC Pacific Development Strategy, which seeks to promote the development of cycling in the Oceania region and to represent the interests of Member National Federations’ to the UCI.