Current chairman of the Guyana Cycling Federation’s finance committee and president of Roraima Bikers Club (RBC), Brian Allen is calling for the resurfacing of the inner circuit of the National Park which is the venue for most of the cycling events held locally throughout the year.
Allen, a former acting vice president of the GCF,
has been in the cycling arena for a number of years where he has been constantly interacting with cyclists and the administrative bodies.
Based on this considerable experience and having been “in and out of cycling since childhood,” Allen weighed in on the current state of cycling in Guyana and gave his personal insights on what is needed for the sport’s development during a telephone interview with Stabroek Sport.
Though many in the cycling fraternity for decades have been calling for a velodrome (an arena for track cycling), it still seems to be a far cry, so Allen along with many others has been recommending the resurfacing of the inner circuit of the National Park, where the bulk of cycling events are held.
According to Allen, the National Park circuit is unsafe since it has two dangerous concave drops in the track before and after the finish line, which pose a serious risk for riders.
“The track is in a bad state… the cyclists experience a lot of punctures from constantly sinking in the track.”
In light of this, Allen said, riders in his club are reluctant to participate in cycling events held in the National Park.
“A lot of guys don’t want to ride there and once it is not resurfaced our cyclists will not be participating there,” Allen added.
However, the cycling official noted that in comparison to the past cycling in Guyana is not on the decline but more still needs to be done at all levels in order to raise the bar and take the standard to a level comparable to those in other countries around the region.
“I don’t think cycling is on the decline because we have a lot of young people that are getting involved and show interest in the sport,” Allen declared, validating this by citing recent cycling meets that brought a lot of new young faces to the spotlight.
Meanwhile, Allen highlighted one aspect of the sport that is very significant and indeed a necessity in order to move the sport forward. This necessity is money.
According to the him, “Cycling is the second most expensive sport in the world after motor racing” and as such taking the sport to new heights locally may be very costly to develop and upkeep from a cyclist’s point of view and from that of the related authority.”
Nevertheless, Allen emphasized that based on the abundance of young cycling talent, facilities and personnel should be made available to enable the youths and experienced cyclists alike to steadily progress in the cycling arena.
In many ways, mostly infrastructural, Guyana’s cycling cannot compare to other countries around the region, such as Trinidad. “We don’t have the supportive businesses like in Trinidad, where most clubs are owned by businesses,” Allen said.
“We have to get the facilities and people involved to harness these young cyclists… We need a safe training facility and coaches to be assigned to get the youths trained,” he added.
He also noted that “a lot of development is needed in cycling and the federation needs structure.”
In the meantime, he assured that the finance committee of the GCF will be embarking on fundraising activities “to try to get some money in hand.”