Dahlia Palmer, two-time Jamaica National Cycling Champion, returned to the island to compete for the first time in three years.

Palmer is targeting the annual National Cycling Championships in Kingston on September 9 and 10 to showcase her developing skills as an international level sprint racer. The 24-year-old native of Lucea, Hanover, has triumphed at both national road and track titles in Jamaica, as silver medallist in the Caribbean Cycling Championships and finishing on the podium at many regional Caribbean cycling events.

Three years ago Palmer moved to Trinidad to study Civil Engineering at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, a diploma she will be receiving this November. During this time she began training and racing for the Trinidad-based Team DPS as a sprint specialist. About a year ago Robert Farrier, of the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation, took over as her coach and as Palmer explains, “I’ve been working assiduously with him since” and “have improved tremendously as a track sprinter”.

Currently she is focused on the flying 200m and 500m sprints and the keirin, a motorcycle-paced event.

Palmer is looking towards the National Cycling Championships as a first step in a road that will take her to representing Jamaica at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics. Both the Commonwealth and Olympics require prequalifying through a series of international competitions that Palmer hopes to enter. Her aim is for continued international racing experience and accumulation of enough competition points to qualify her for the global games.

Palmer values the opportunity to represent Jamaica and serves as an example for other Jamaican youth and female riders who are considering cycling as a competitive sport. Her thoughts are echoed by Cyril Mangal, assistant secretary of the Caribbean Cycling Confederation, who states, “the UCI [cycling world governing body] wants to push and promote women’s cycling” and that “we should try to encourage women as much as possible” to participate in competitive cycling in the Caribbean area.

Dahlia Palmer represents the best of what Jamaica has to offer both as a cyclist and role model. She can be seen racing the 2017 National Cycling Championships September 9 and 10 at the National Stadium track.