‘Riding for Life 1’ was a success and so the organizers, the Ministry of Health (MOH) in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) will be offering cyclists and enthusiasts the second annual ‘Riding for Life’ event from November 6-9.
The five-stage event is planned to be an annual one on the calendar of the GCF, and according to its president, Hector Edwards, overseas-based cyclists are expected to participate in this year’s event.
“We will be having cyclists from St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Anguilla, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname competing in this year’s event, which promises to be bigger and better than last year and has an attractive first prize of $200,000.
He added, “When we looked back at last year’s inaugural event, the fourth stage, which was held from Supenaam to Charity and back to Suddie, was the most successful one, with the villagers coming out along the route in full support of the event.”
Alonzo Greaves won the inaugural event last year, completing the five stages in a time of 11:04:28s with Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams second, some four seconds behind and Leer Nunes, who won the final stage from Kara Kara, Linden to Homestretch Avenue through light but persistent rain, third, 12 seconds behind Williams.
In fact, 16 seconds separated the first three finishers in the event which covered a distance of 226 miles and also saw former national junior road race champion Christopher Holder coming out on top in that division with a time of 11:11:41 from Enzo Matthews and Geron Williams in that order.
Taking into consideration Greaves’ current form, along with the international invasion for this year’s event, a highly anticipated tussle can be expected on the roads of Guyana during the second Ride for Life event come next month.
Along with the first 10 finishers overall, the individual stage winners and the top three junior and veteran cyclists will be rewarded financially, speaking to the media at a briefing session at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat yesterday, Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy expressed his delight at the smooth running of the inaugural event last year, and lauded all who were involved for their collaborative efforts.
“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports (MCYS) along with the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) and the National Sports Council (NSC) for the smooth and effective way in which they successfully organized and executed the first race last year.”
“If you can recall, when I deputized for Minister Anthony at the Cheddi Jagan Memorial Cycle Race prize giving ceremony, I did mention to those gathered, the need for a race across the nation and at the same time tasked the GCF and NSC to get same going. Suffice to say, they did so quickly and efficiently, which you now know as the ‘Riding for Life’ event.”
The Ministry of Health has committed itself to run this event in the years ahead, Ramsammy stated.
“We would also be having the defending champion Alonzo Greaves participate in a panel discussion on NCN tonight and next Thursday night, as we not only look at updating racing enthusiasts on the development of the race, but also edifying the public on HIV/AIDS and Awareness.”
Dr Ramsammy further stated, “Guyana has been multi-sectorial and a multi- stakeholder in the fight against HIV/AIDS by the UNAIDS Committee and this race is a perfect example for us to showcase not only to Guyanese, but the world at large, our fight against the stigma.”
“I have also been in constant communication with the UNAIDS committee, to have an Inter-Guiana’s cycling event where the race will end in the country that is hosting the games, and the UNAIDS are more than willing to sponsor such an event as part of an HIV/ AIDS Awareness programme.”
In his brief remarks, Dr Anthony stated that this year’s event will be organized with two perspectives in mind, apart from sensitizing the public on the deadly disease HIV/AIDS.
“Apart from sensitizing the public on HIV/AIDS, we want to make them aware of obesity and inactivity, which can be tackled through sports. Persons out there need to know that sports is a way to a healthy lifestyle and through sports, we can tackle the dreaded disease of obesity, even though it is not as deadly as HIV/AIDS.”
“This race will be used as a yardstick to educate the public on these issues and the MCYS, MOH and the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) has promised to make it an annual event on the calendar of the GCF with plans already underway for next year’s staging of the event.”
