This Is Guernsey

By Aaron Scoones

TOBYN HORTON is spending a month training in Lanzarote as he prepares for what could be a make-or-break year. The island cycling star for the last three summers has been based in Belgium where he races for the amateur Onder Ons Parike team.

And the 21-year-old has stated that next year could be his last when he concentrates so much on his sport.

So in a bid to get ready for the season, he is off to the Canary Islands next week until 13 January.

‘I’ve been going over there for years,’ said Horton.

‘I’m going by myself. I know all the roads over there and the best places to go.

‘I’m hoping to get five or six hours’ riding in a day.’

After returning to the island in the new year, Horton will go back to his part-time job at Specsavers.

He works in the mornings to leave his afternoons free for cycling.

He may go back to Lanzarote briefly before leaving for Belgium in mid-March.

When in Belgium, he lives in a town called Knesselare in east Flanders.

Horton explained why this season is crucial for him.

‘I’ll be doing some big races this year that I have been doing for the last couple of years,’ he said.

‘Last year was for experience in these races and hopefully I’ll do better in these races this year and get the results to help get into a professional continental team. I think unless I get into a better team this will have to be my last year.’

In the summer he picked up two very good victories on the Belgian circuit.

The first in a 115km event in the town of Beernem and secondly at the prestigious under-23 Beloften event.

But the Guernseyman said the highlight of 2007 for him was when he won gold in the criterium at the Rhodes Island Games.

He is disappointed that cycling is not included in the Games in Aland in 2009.

‘It’s a big shame because there’s nothing for cyclists to work for until the Commonwealth Games again in 2010,’ he said.

Horton has already targeted these Games in Delhi, India, and he wants to make up for the disappointment that he suffered at the most recent Commonwealths in Melbourne last year.

He had performing well in the road race around the Royal Botanic Gardens and was tagged on to the peloton behind the lead group of five riders after three laps when a puncture struck.

‘The Commonwealth Games is the next big one especially after the disappointment of the last one when I got a puncture,’ he said. ‘I want to go for it.’