Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) president, Horace Burrowes has back pedaled on a recent Facebook post and has apologized “to those people/persons to whom he has unintentionally offended.”
In a post that made headlines last week, Burrowes wrote: “One of Guyana top Cyclist, Alanzo Greaves is facing suspension for a positive Anti-Doping test. I can confirm Mr. Alanzo Greaves has tested positive for a prohibited substance. He was tested on Sunday November 1, 2015 at the tour of Guyana.
Mr. Alanzo Greaves was notified by the Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO).
Members of the GCF would like to thank Mrs. Karen Pilgrim and Guyana Olympic Association for conducting these test. With these random test that was conducted, not only Alanzo Greaves has tested positive but Cyclist from Barbados, Jamaica and Columbia also tested positive. Guyana Cycling Federation will continue to work closely with Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to continue to conduct random testing and to bring order to the sport that we all love.”
However, yesterday Burrowes did an about turn and retracted his statement on Facebook after president of the Jamaican Cycling Federation, Kirk Finnikin had demanded a withdrawal of the “defamatory and untrue post.”
Burrowes’ retraction
“Some weeks ago I posted something that had sparked a lot of controversy. At this moment I will like to make a formal apology to those people/persons to whom I have unintentionally offended. Apparently my resources were not very reliable. Therefore, again I apologize for my incorrect posting. Even though I did not mention anyone athlete in particular aside from the Guyanese athlete, I will really like to make a heartfelt apology to The Jamaican Cycling Federation (JCF) and Marloe Rodman. Marloe Rodman and I are friends and he knows that I will not offend him in anyway, I believe that my posting was misconstrued and instigated by those persons who will like to see the GCF and JCF in conflict. But I will like to affirm to those individuals, you are on the wrong path to success. We will never have strife between these two federations in particular. If I made a mistake by posting something that is incorrect, as a leader I apologize, it’s the right thing to do. The reason being, we took these positions to make a difference in cycling, not for our personal gain. The JCF President Kirk Finnikin and myself will not allow distraction in the path of our job. The JCF have always been a friend of the GCF and we will always have an open invitation for their athletes to compete in any of our events. Thank you.”
When contacted to specify whether the retraction was just for the JCF or all and sundry, the US based Burrowes declined to respond.
