Guyana’s premier cycling event coordinator, Hassan Mohamed, described 2014 as a ‘fantastic year’ and said that he anticipates a successful start of his 2015 calendar of events which pedals off next Saturday.
After organizing 42 events last year which included the signature Independence three-stage road race, the ‘Ride for Life’ five-stage road race and the ‘Big Ride’, the long standing face of cycling said he was pleased with the number of events he was involved in but will look to surpass it once he has the requisite corporate support.
“I had two new sponsors onboard last year, Star Party Rental and CIDI, so if the trend continues I look forward to holding more races in 2015,” he declared.
More competition augurs well for any athlete.
Mohamed told Stabroek Sport yesterday that his highlight of last year was coaching the national boys’ team to gold in the Inter-Guiana Games in Suriname last October. He disclosed that the four wheelsmen, Alonzo Ambrose, Akeem Arthur, Shaquel Agard and Kravitz Jeffrey were all products of his ‘Teach Them Young’ summer camp which is almost four decades old.
“They are among the young crop of talented cyclists and they went over there and did what they had to do. They also won the team time trials, plus the road race so I was happy about that.
“Last year is the 38th year for the ‘Teach Them Young’ as a result of the ‘Teach Them Young’ we have seen the juniors blossoming – this is a new crop that will take over cycling.”
Mohamed thanked the corporate sponsors which included R&R International, Ricks and Sari, BK International, Banks DIH Limited, DDL, the NSC and others for supporting his events throughout the year.
He also thanked members of the media for promoting his events. Meanwhile, the 2015 cycling season will pedal off on January 24 with the 22nd annual Ricks and Sari Agro Industries 11-race ‘Teach Them Young’ programme.
National cyclist, Marlon Williams was the winner of the feature 35-lap event of last year’s season opener. (Emmerson Campbell)
