On the heels of a successful hosting of the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships last weekend, Guyana could once again host an international tournament of this nature, this time, the senior version in 2020.
This was revealed to Stabroek Sport by president of the Guyana Cycling Federation, Horace Burrowes on Tuesday after the premature ending of what was expected to be the body’s Annual General Meeting at the Olympic House, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
“I’ve been asked to host the 2020 senior Caribbean Championships and I am actually thinking of it,” Burrowes stated but indicated that first the federation needs to get past its dilemma.
“First we have to get through the dilemma that we are going through with the federation but once we get through this, our federation can work miracles with everyone working together. Once we get a quorum of everyone working together, not just in the federation but everyone that likes the sport and want to see good for the youths and we will get sponsors on board who are happy with the work we are doing because we are not fighting among ourselves, when we fight among ourselves we run the sponsors away,” the GCF president said.
Burrowes explained that he came with the intention of not running for the presidency again but he was convinced by “a lot of persons” to run who “want to see good and want to see these youths develop.”
However, he indicated that while the junior version was hosted in Bartica, the seniors will take place in Georgetown.
The veteran rider said that the only issue with hosting events in Bartica was the transportation and called on the government to lend support in such instances.
“The only challenge we have when hosting events on Bartica is we would have to have the government’s support in terms of how the Ferry runs, because we cannot keep going with the speedboats. The speed boats are great, we get there on time but it’s just getting all the bikes on the speedboat whereas the ferry is easier, you just roll everything on and off and if we could just set the Ferry at a time we can come and go, it would be much easier for cyclists,” he opined.
Nevertheless, Burrowes said that he was satisfied with the hosting of last weekend’s championships in the Green Town, describing it as the best experience he has had.
“My experience in hosting the Caribbean championships is the best experience I’ve had since being a part of this federation and hosting any event races,” he noted.
“That championships meant a lot for Guyana and I think because for the future we want to host more championships and we had to make that one successful.”
He explained that there were a lot of positives to take from hosting the event but said that he was satisfied as “all the countries were pleased.
“They were happy with the championships even though it was a long trip to Bartica back and forth but they were happy with the service they received,” Burrowes declared.
