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Two of the female athletes travelling with the contingent to the 19th Commonwealth Games believe the competition will be strong but they are confident that they'll do well:

Kiana Martinez- Athlete
"I do know the competition is going to be a tighter competition than here in Central America because there are pro athletes who is going to be part of that commonwealth games and but that doesn't leaves me not believing in myself and doing the best that I could do."

Kay De Vaughn-Athlete
"Well I am just going out there and do my best, I am hoping for a PR personally and to see how far where I am when it comes to other athletes in the commonwealth."

The cycling team representing Belize is made up of proven talent. Among them are Gregory Lovell, Jairo Campos and Shalini Zabaneh who told us what the preparation was like for this big event.

Jairo Campos
"We have to try to see if we can bring home a medal for the country, because we were preparing hard and we were doing 25 miles mostly in the week and we have to try accomplish a time over 50 minutes for 25 miles to try bring in gold."

Andrea Polanco
"So you say that you were preparing hard; from since when this preparation start."

Jairo Campos
"Well our preparation start before the Albert Street classic; the criterion and then Arana, Greg Lovell, Brandon Cattouse and Byron Pope was training for this India trip because we expect great competition and well actually we will meet cyclist from tour de France and then we expect a great challenge over there."

Shalini Zabaneh
"Well a lot of hard work, to put in a lot of hours, the level of these games are so much higher than anything I will ever experience I think. All the professionals will be there so I had to put in a lot of hard work and I did my best to see what the outcome is."

Greg Lovell
"Well the preparation was very tire ding for me because most of the time it was raining and I try to do a lot of motor paste to get use to ride international and I did my last ride yesterday and it was good and the preparation would pay off. We don't have any strategy yet because in this game we are going against the world best. The world class athletes and it will be a very good experience for the other guys, I have been to this game 4 years ago in Australia and the competition is really high, I have race against guys that have race in Tour de France and it's a really high level of competition and we have to go there ready mentally and physically for this game."

And ready they are because they have set goals in this competition says Perry Gibson Coach of The National Cycling Team:

Perry Gibson- Coach- National Cycling Team
"One of the realities is that we will be up against big countries; Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, big first world countries and so basically our goal is to at least be better than all the English speaking Caribbean countries that will be there, that's the primary goal in terms of the individual time trial and for the road race its actually to get a finish. Belize has never completed the road race in these games."

Andrea Polanco
"So what was the preparation like?"

Perry Gibson- Coach- National Cycling Team
"The reality is that this national team has been travelling for the past probably 6 months. we have gone Panama to race in the Central American Games, we've gone to Puerto Rico to race in the Central American and Caribbean games and we have done extensive training at home as well. So the preparation has been very good I have to say."

Andrea Polanco
"So they will be travelling to New Delhi India. Do you think the terrain will pose any challenge to the cyclist?"

Perry Gibson- Coach- National Cycling Team
"As far as we are aware it is very flat course, so there won't be any mountains as we know and the challenge will be the heat. India is hotter than Belize so we are accustom to heat but I understand its going to be hotter."

Well that heat was far from the athletes minds because just minutes before they left the country they told us that the feeling was one of excitement and nerves:

Jairo Campos
"Excited because first time I am going so far and I know Belize is spending a lot for us and then they are also expecting a lot from us so we will try our best and see if we can bring down gold for the country."

Shalini Zabaneh
"If you are not nervous then you are not ready they say."

Kay De Vaughn
"I'm very excited, not nervous as yet but excited to be there and to go out there and compete."

The Games which will start on October 3rd and ends on October 14th will see the participation of seventy two countries. This year's competition will feature two hundred and sixty events in seventeen disciplines in which over six thousand athletes will partake. Kiana Martinez will be the flag bearer for country. The Belize contingent will return on October 17.