New safety measures for OCBC Cycle 2015

SINGAPORE — A slew of safety measures, with an emphasis on keeping competitive and non-competitive riders apart, will be introduced for the OCBC Cycle 2015 in a bid to address criticism over the way previous editions of the popular event had been organised.

Yesterday, OCBC Bank announced Pich Event Management as its new event organiser and that more than 10 safety enhancements will be put in place for the race, which will be held from Aug 29 to 30 next year. This will include the scrapping of the 59km Super Challenge category, following the death of a participant during this year’s event in March. Collisions resulting from inexperienced and non-competitive riders hogging traffic had been a major flash point in previous races, exacerbated by unclear road signs. There were also issues with marshals and the response time from medical personnel.

Next year’s race will also be capped at 9,000 participants — down from close to 12,000 from this year’s edition — to help ease congestion, although the route, which will include the National Stadium, has yet to be finalised.

“I will not deny safety aspects of mass events have been thrown to light,” said Pich Event Management’s senior consultant Jaymes Tan. “After we were chosen to work with OCBC a month ago, we started looking at all aspects of the event swiftly, including gathering feedback from participants who are our main stakeholders.

“At the end of the day, it is about giving cyclists a ride on closed roads and not a race. We will still provide a competitive element, (although) we do not know what yet. But it will take place on another event day.

“The Super Challenge category just puts together too many casual cyclists with the more seasoned ones who want to take up a longer route together, which is very hazardous.”

Pich Event Management was picked from seven bidders after OCBC Bank ended its six-year partnership with Spectrum Worldwide after national serviceman Chia Wee Kiak died after falling off his bicycle during The Super Challenge in March.

The incident sparked public anger over the safety levels of the event, which debuted in 2009 with about 5,000 participants but swelled this year to nearly 12,000. Further details of next year’s race will be announced later, but the Community Ride (24km), The Foldies Community Ride (24km) and The Challenge (39km) will remain.

A year-round programme to educate participants on safe cycling etiquette has also been proposed and OCBC will work with 12 companies — including Canon, 100PLUS, Great Eastern, National University Hospital, Sport Singapore, Shimano and Volvo — to plan a calendar of activities.

But Mr Nicholas Ngern, who has taken part in the past three editions of the event, said: “The new organiser needs to do a lot of homework, including watching videos and garnering feedback from actual cyclists to have an in-depth understanding of the problems.“It’s easy to increase road signage and marshals, but it’s just talk. We will wait to see further plans announced.”

Tan admitted that next year’s edition will not be accident-free, but it will be a step towards that direction. “With a new organiser, new plan and a new route, problems are still bound to still crop up,” he said. “Safety will continue to be of prime importance and ensuring that is an ongoing process.”