Come tomorrow and Sunday, Guyana’s lone differently-abled cyclist, Walter Grant-Stuart, will have all his dreams riding on his performance in the Parapan Am Cycling Championships in Lima, Peru.
Grant-Stuart told this newspaper that he recently received a letter from the International Cycling Union (UCI) which related that he was in contention for a spot to train for the Olympics next year but it was dependent on his performance at this championships as well as the World Cycling Championships.
“I’m not here just to participate, any race I go in is the intention to win, for me, I recently got a letter from UCI which said based on the performance in Peru and the World Championship, they will select me to train for the Olympics,” he said.
“It is very big for me, everything I have is riding on this and I will leave everything on the bike and I always go hard and I am hoping to pull a medal out of this…the only medal I see is the gold not even the silver or the bronze.”
Grant-Stuart, who has been in Peru for the past week, told Stabroek Sport that the gruelling conditions are completely different from Guyana which makes it harder for him to train but it is his fighting spirit that carries him through.
“Training over here is very different, it is very cold, no sun and only three hours of training on the flats we get…it is very hard to breathe due to the altitude and the air is thicker but I am getting accustomed to it, I have like three days to get myself up,” he stated.
The one-handed rider indicated that he recently underwent an anti-doping drug test which forced him to rest for two days. He said that the committee withdrew a significant amount of blood.
“The test has affected me slight, in a sense it was good to do the test since it shows I’m a clean athlete and I’ve always been a clean athlete,” he explained.
Embracing the competition, Grant-Stuart reckoned that the level of athletes present is tremendously high, indicating the presence of a lot of “big guns who are all professionals,” including the number-one ranked rider from Brazil as well as fierce riders hailing from Chile, Ecuador, Columbia, Dominican Republic and other countries.
In addition to the competition, the Guyanese said that the course is very difficult with “a fairly steep climb and fast descents along with reasonable flats.”
He said that it is his prediction that the riders will work as a team which is a disadvantage for him being the only one but he would look to stay in the breakaway and work to his strengths.
The former fireman admitted that the Time Trial, which is billed for tomorrow is going to require a miracle for him to win gold since he is not the owner of a Time Trial bike but expressed that he will be working hard to finish in the top six with his normal bike.
