PROFILE: DEAN EDWARDS

· Team Leader of team House of Paint (one of the leading cycle teams in SA).
· Came fifth in the Tour Durban Cycle Classic 105km race this year

An article on the Cycle Lab website featured a write up on Dean Edwards, as follows:
“Watch out for Team House of Paint this year,” are the confident words of team leader Dean Edwards. Formerly known as Team ChemSpec, the team has doubled in size going from four riders in 2007 to eight riders in 2008 and with the continued backing of the House of Paint, a division of the global paint company, ChemSpec, the team shows off brand-new riding gear.
“Last year the team turned professional and delivered some excellent results. We hope to build on that foundation this year and become even fiercer in the face of competition,” says Edwards. He believes that the team is progressing from being a thorn in the side to being the puncture deflating the opposition.

“Out of all the races for the year we are determined to walk away with the first prize for the Argus cycle tour, the local Durban tour, the Pick ‘n Pay Amashovashova National Classic and the Pick ‘n Pay 94.7,” says Edwards.

Edwards is confident that his riders will do very well over the next few years with a view to be selected for the team that will compete in the 2010 Commonwealth Games."

Dean has been professional since 2001. His career highlights include SA Record Holder and representing SA at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

He started his cycling career in 1991 when his father introduced him to the sport. He enjoyed immediate success and in 1992 won the SA Under 11 road cycling championships. In 1993 he was once again crowned SA Under 13 champion and he also managed to win 3 gold medals at the SA track championships in the same age group. It was from this year that Dean realised his strengths were on the track and specifically sprinting.

1994 was the year which confirmed he was going to become a professional cyclist. His results had been recognised by the English Schools Cycling Association and they invited him (at the age of 12) to spend a month in the UK, racing and touring with the academy. There he managed to win the sprint competition at a 7 day youth tour in Assen, Holland in his age group and was offered a ride back the following year.

In '95 Dean managed to better his results in Europe and this year won the whole tour overall and the sprint competition as well as 5 out of 7 stages. He returned to SA and claimed the Under 14 SA Road Championships.

Dean missed the tour in 1996 due to illness but returned in 1997. This year he finished 3rd overall in the sprinters classification and won the main 80km stage of the tour. In 1998 his focus began to shift more over to the track and he claimed 5 out of 5 gold medals at the SA Track Championships down in Durban. He also won the sprint classification at the Under 16 National Tour.

In 1999 Dean was selected for the Junior Worlds Track team. Here he placed 33rd in the individual 200m match sprint and 12th in the team sprint. In 2000 he returned to the Junior Worlds in Milan Italy and this time finished a credible 10th in the match sprint. He also broke the SA Junior 1km Time Trial and 200m sprint record.

2001 was the beginning of his Elite career and he started it off with a bang to become one of the only first year Elites to win the rider of the championship award at the SA track champs. Here he received 4 golds and 2 silvers against the best in South Africa and was put onto the NOCSA Olympic programme. He received an international contract to race a 6 day track event in Amsterdam and finished 2nd to World Champion Theo Bos.

In 2002 Dean was selected for the Commonwealth Games team and here he managed 12th in the individual sprint and 7th in the team sprint. He realised that if he wanted to make it in the sprinting world he would have to be based in Europe and managed to get accepted into the East Berlin Sports School where he lived and raced on the international sprint circuit for 3 years (2002-2005). Major races and victories included 4th place at a World Cup event in Malaysia in 2002, 1st in an International Sprint GP in Hanover Germany in 2005 and breaking the SA Elite 200m record in Moscow in 2004 which he still holds to date. Dean also won an International Sprint race at the Edinburgh GP in Scotland in 2003.

After being left out of the 2006 Commonwealth Games squad due to political reasons Dean decided to return back to SA and change his focus back to road cycling and endurance events on the track. He got offered a small contract by the Sharks Cycling Club and was approached by Durbans popular restaurant Spiga d'Oro who offered to sponsor him and the team in the hope of Dean making a transition to road cycling in SA. Dean finished on the podium in his first couple of National Classics and won four out of four local races in KZN. He then went on to finish 2nd to Malcolm Lange (MTN) at the local National Classic the Tour Durban and a week later won two gold medals at the SA Track Championships but this time in the endurance events the Elimination race and the 40kms points race.

Dean then landed a contract to race an International Six Day event in Milan, Italy, this time for the endurance events. Races at these events can be up to 100km long. At the end of 2006 he was approached by Mr Strath Wood CEO of Chemspec who wanted to take over the sponsorship fo the Cycling team. They came to an agreement on a 3-year plan in the hope of building Durban's first and only professional cycling team and ChemSpec became the title sponsor with Spiga d'Oro staying on as a co-sponsor.

2007 was to be their first year and although a very small team in terms of numbers (four riders) they managed to make a huge impact at all National classics finishing amongst the prizes (Top 10) in 11 out of 15 National Classics. They ran a small but professional structure and by the end of 2007 were approached by top riders from some of SA's tops teams to come and join in their set-up. Dean returned to Italy for the Six Day events and was also slected for the National Road team to take part in two tours in Asia as the team sprinter becoming one of the few riders to represent both Road and Track National teams.

2008 has been a very busy year and exciting year. With the support and funding from Chemspec and House of Paint Dean has been able to put together one of the most well balanced teams in the country. He currently leads one of the most successfull cycling teams in SA. They have won three National Classics, placed in the top 5 in every one and were placed the 2nd SA team (5th overall) and 2nd South African rider (4th overall) at the recent Giro del Capo and Argus Cycle Tour. Dean Also secured two contracts to compete in two international events in Milan, Italy where he finished a credible 13th and 15th overall.