National cyclist Muhammad
Raihaan Abd Aziz during the 2010
Jelajah Malaysia. International
commissaires can help to ensure
the smooth running of races in
ethical and sporting terms by
uniformly applying International
Cycling Union rules before, during
and after the race.Picture:
Courtesy of Muhammad Raihaan
Abd Aziz

National cycling coach Yafiz Jamaludin insists that the time is right for Brunei to have their own international commissaires.

Tasked with ensuring the smooth running of races in ethical and sporting terms by uniformly applying International Cycling Union (UCI) rules before, during and after the race, international commissaires are experts in their discipline and have extensive knowledge of cycling rules.

The upcoming Butra Heidelberg Cement Tour de Brunei, scheduled to be held from Sept 7-11, has highlighted the lack of international commissaires in the country, but the Brunei Darussalam Cycling Federation (BDCF) hopes to fix that by organising a course this year.

"Even though it has nothing to do with athletes' performance it is still important to teach the athletes about international rules," said Yafiz recently.

"Cycling is very complicated with different sets of rules for each discipline road race, mountain-bike, cross country.

"One small infringement and you can get fined. The commissaires will charge the rider but fine the federation, so the federations need to know about these kind of things too.

"With the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games coming up in Indonesia in November, having Brunei commissaires on the panel will help ease fears of biasness," added Yafiz.

Panels usually consist of four commissaires and are headed by a president, who has the deciding vote.

Though Yafiz has taken an international commissaire course, UCI rules state that national coaches will have to sit out for two years after leaving their posts if they wish to take up a commissaire position.

In a recent interview with BDCF acting secretary general Omar Ali Ibrahim, it was disclosed that the federation might apply to the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BNOC) to use funds from the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic Solidarity programme to bankroll the course.

Funding from the programme is used for coaching courses, technical courses and athletes training assistance in the 33 Olympic sports, though only 18 BNOC members qualify.

Omar Ali also said the course might accommodate approximately 10 to 15 people.

BDCF already have mountain-bike commissaires who sat for the 'Course for National Mountain Bike Commissaires' in preparation for the 1st Asean Mountain Bike Championship which Brunei hosted in March 2009.

It is the norm for courses to be centred around races, where the commissaires can put their new found knowledge to the test at the end of the course.

If the course materialises it will add to BDCF's fine start to the year off the track.

For the first time in its history the national team welcomed five women cyclists into the set-up at the start of the year.

A dedicated road race mechanic during the team's March 8-13 Jelajah Malaysia campaign, Suhimi Anak Siba, is also another first that BDCF can boast of.

Courtesy from Brunei Times