Horton decision opens the door

THREE riders are set to battle it out for a surprise slot in the NatWest Island Games in Shetland Island. The door of opportunity was surprisingly re-opened for Andy Colver, John Mapley and Jon Osborn, originally selected as the non-travelling reserves, when Tobyn Horton dropped out of the mountain bike team. But he will still compete in the road team.

'We selected Tobyn to ride in both road and mountain biking events and the idea was that he would not ride all the events, but those that were suited to him.

'He is a particularly good criterium rider, for example,' said Guernsey Velo Club president and NatWest Island Games cycling selector David Harry.

'He has now come back to us saying; ?I would rather concentrate solely on the road races because I think that's where my future lies. There may be a couple of events where I will be a little out of my depth, but it will be good practice and experience for the future.?

'He has been very honest and credit to him for taking that decision.'

Rob Smart, Chris Le Page, Nick Mann and Jimmy Carling have already been selected in the team - subject to them maintaining a good level of performance - but the final decision on who joins them does not need to be made until May.

'We will approach the reserves to see if they are still interested and able to go to the Shetlands,' said Harry.

'If they are, we as selectors will then have to decide who gets a place.

'There is talk of us using March's race in Herm as a selection event, but that is only a possibility at this time.

'We have fairly good strength in depth in mountain biking so, although Tobyn is a loss to the team, we will still be well represented.'

Horton, 18, said that he had decided that his future on a bike lay in road racing.

'I just feel that if I was going to continue cycling and even make it into a profession, I'd be better off doing road racing rather than mountain biking. I think I'm a better road racer anyway.'

Horton said that he believed it would be impossible for him to ride both events in the Shetlands and that the experience he would gain from the road events would be immense.