-government commits support for hosting of Caribbean Elite Championships
By Michaelangelo Jacobus
Despite being over an hour late to a reception in his honour, Briton John, Guyana’s best cyclist in recent years, soaked up praise and collected several gifts for his recent historic achievement at the Tour Cycliste de Guiana in French Guiana where he narrowly missed out on winning the overall title.
Held at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Officers Club in Camp Ayanganna, Thomas Lands, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr. was on hand to congratulate John on his second-place finish on behalf of the government and President Irfaan Ali.
What made John’s feat remarkable was that he became the first Guyanese cyclist to grace the podium in the Toure Cycliste de Guiana in 25 years. The last Guyanese to podium was Stephen Mangru who won the event in 1999.
In delivering his address at the reception, Ramson said that “the fraternity of cycling is about to take a turn for the better because mainly of government involvement”. Cycling has long been plagued by inefficient administration and of recent has been on a downward spiral, which is why government support is integral to a revival.
his historic podium finish at the Tour Cycliste de Guiana in French Guiana.
With that in mind, Ramson urged all the clubs to take strong and wise leadership initiatives so that the fraternity can be united with the ultimate outcome being positive. You can look back and see in cycling history unfulfilled potential, he said.
While Ramson committed the Government’s support for the sport, he warned against the fraternity viewing their involvement as “a treasure trove or piggy bank”.
Instead, he declared; “Our expectation is collaboration, cooperation and figuring out how to make it work”. In light of John’s accomplishments, Ramson revealed that after a meeting with the President, he committed to making a large donation towards the purchase of a new premium racing bicycle for the wheelsman. Additionally, three other cyclists will receive similar support. Ramson also took the opportunity to announce the Government’s involvement in supporting the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) in the hosting of the Caribbean Elite Championships which is slated for November 2-3 later this year.
While the subject Minister announced these commitments, he also called for returns on those commitments.
“We are making investments but we expect returns. What we want is Guyanese to be on the World stage flying our flag”.
John received several gifts compliments of the Guyana Cycling community, among those gifts was a motorcycle.
John has been dominant on the local scene for the past few years and is widely expected to break barriers on the international level for the country.
