Stars of yesteryear ...Aubrey Bryce
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
July 12, 2002
Born in the village of Meadow Bank, on the East Bank of Demerara, Aubrey Bryce began his cycling career as a juvenile under-14 racer and went on to represent Guyana at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
Within a very short number of years after taking up the sport, Bryce moved swiftly and successfully through the senior ranks, to the level of international representation, beginning in 1967, just four years after he first began his racing career.
His tenure as an international class racing cyclist was prematurely terminated in what was believed to be the prime years of a potentially stellar cycling career, when he opted to move permanently abroad to further his post-secondary education.
During his tenure however, he was chosen to represent Guyana on several occasions, the most significant of which was his selection to the Olympic team where he would represent Guyana as a sprinter in the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
In Mexico, Bryce competed against 150 of the very best cyclists from 75 countries around the world, before finally succumbing in the 'round of 16'.
Essentially, he had made it to a very elite group of 32 of the finest sprinters in the world.
Aubrey however cites his two most important victories as those over Leslie King of Trinidad and Tobago, the then current sprint phenomenon of the Western Hemisphere, and Giordano Turinni of Italy, the world's best sprinter at that time.
The victory over Turinni came at the 1968 Texaco Southern Games held at Guaracara Park in San Fernando, Trinidad. This event became known to cycling fans as the 'two-bryces' incident, as it is reported, the sports commentator was heard to have said on air that during the initial phases of the sprint, he saw 'two bryces' on the track at the very same time. Once, just prior to the start of the sprint and within a split second, again on the track, 150 yards in front of a dumbfounded Turinni who knew immediately that he had been soundly trashed.
The victory over King came when he (King) was regarded as one of the best sprinters in the world, and was embarking on a trip to Denmark for a three-month training stint to further hone his sprinting skills.
The event was the Huggins-Barbicans International Sports meeting held at the Queen's Park Oval. Significant to these races was the fact that they were duels in the match sprint event, 'mano a mano', and was regarded as the glamour event of cycling meets.
Some of Bryce's cycling career highlights are; being crowned Guyana's national junior champion in 1965 and 1966. Guyana national sprint champion 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970, being a member of the national team in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and of course being selected for the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Still active today as a competitive cyclist, Aubrey competes successfully at the masters level in Canada and the United States and even returns home (Guyana) from time to time to participate in the National Sports Commission's Three Stage Road Race.
Some of his most recent accomplishments are, winning the Ontario Provincial veteran 1000-metre Time Trial in 1988, the Ontario Provincial veteran Match Sprint title in 1988 through 1994 and being crowned Ontario's Master Road Race Champion in 1999.
Aubrey currently resides in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada with his wife Donna. He has two children, Morty and Samantha, both having left home with successful careers of their own.
He is still actively involved in the sport of cycling on a full time basis and through his company, Enduro Training Systems Inc., is coach to cyclists and multi-sport athletes from elite to novices levels. He is also currently the head coach of the Toronto-based (Eon) D'Ornellas Racing Team and consults with many cycling and multi-sport organisations including the Canadian Cross Training Club, the Toronto Bicycle network and Personal Best.