Training indoors even before MCO

Kota Kinabalu: Kuala Lumpur-based Cycology Sabah Racing Team had switched to indoor training even before the Movement Control Order (MCO) that took effect on March 18.

Coach Louis Pang when contacted at their base on Thursday said the decision was made in order to minimise the risk of his riders contracting the virus.

“Our priority is keeping our athletes safe. Our team complies with MCO strictly. In fact, we ceased training in the gym even before MCO was announced.

“This is to reduce risk exposure for the athletes. We have been using hand disinfectant from one of our sponsors, Borneosew Medical Trading when we trained in public areas since mid January.

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“We have also switched to indoor cycling because the anxiety and risk of contracting the virus was not worth being outdoor for our riders.

“Thankfully, our team are well equipped to train indoor. We are very grateful to MSN Sabah who have provided us with the indoor trainers since 2018.

“As a result, we have some three and a half years of experience with power-based smart training. We also use the cloud-based training programme which I have prescribed the training online and every athlete gets their individual programme on their phone.

“They therefore, know exactly what they need to do daily. With a trainer and power meter, they can complete their training and upload the training data to the cloud. It doesn’t matter the athlete is training with me here in Kuala Lumpur or back in Sabah because the data is recorded and analysed to keep everyone accountable,” he said.

He added that they have reduced their training load following the postponement of the Johor Sukma Games which was initially to start in July this year.

“We are dealing with uncertainty right now with the postponement of the Sukma Games. As a result, we have reduced the training load until we have a new time line to work towards.

“There is no point to place the athletes on stressful training loads at the moment as the Covid-19 crisis is stressful enough for them.

“Our goal now is to stay safe, maintain some level of fitness and be supportive of the athletes whether they are in here or Sabah,” he said.

He also revealed that the team won two golds through Waldron Chee Wen Chun’s victories in the time trial and road race at the CIMB Foundation Junior Cycling Race which was held in Kelantan from February 28- March 1.

He finished the 109.6 km/four-lap road race with a time of two hours 39 minutes and 41 seconds ahead of Kelantan’s Mohd Shafiq Mahadi and Sarawak’s Muhd Luqman Daniel Mohd Roji.

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In the time trial with a total distance of 15.4km, Waldron clocked 20 minutes 40.13 seconds to take the title followed by Muhd Firdaus Sharum from Negeri Sembilan and MSN’s Abdul Azim Aliyas.

Meanwhile, fellow teammate Darren Chong Tshun Lok finished in eighth place in the road race and 10th in the time trial.

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