Peter Dunne, the Bermuda Bicycle Association president, praised the Island’s efforts at last weekend’s Elite Caribbean Championships in Puerto Rico.

However, he admits that there is still room for growth in the men’s division where Bermuda’s struggles at this level continued.

Bermuda captured two medals at the two-day championships, with Nicole Mitchell winning the bronze in the individual time-trial and Zoenique Williams silver in the road race.

Williams’s second-place finish, her second straight silver in the road race at the championships, earned Bermuda a spot at next year’s Pan Am Games in Toronto.

However, Bermuda’s men did not cope as well.

Mark Hatherley finished thirteenth in the individual time-trial while Bermuda were forced to pull out of the road race after completing three of the five laps.

Reflecting on Bermuda’s showing at the championships this year, Dunne said:

“The ladies have had a great weekend with two medals and a spot in the Pan Am Games as rewards for their efforts.

“This is another strong result for Bermuda and both Nicole and Zoenique are extremely pleased with their results.

“Our results in the men’s events are not at the same level, but we know this competition is getting harder each year and the successful teams have deeper talent, allowing them to control the pace of the racing with individuals sacrificing themselves for their team.

“Martinique, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic demonstrate that year after year and we need to be working towards developing our athletes to achieve a similar level. Dominique made a hard effort to stay with the leaders in the early part of the race but paid the price later and was dropped.

“Mark Hatherley crashed in the first lap and was able to get back some ground but not enough to be in contention.”

Bermuda’s six-member squad were scheduled to return to Bermuda last night.