… Sports Minister disappointed with team’s withdrawal

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Cheryl Thompson has called on the management of Team COCO’s to apologise for the decision they made to opt out of the National Sports Commission’s National HIV/AIDS 8th Annual Five-Stage `Ride for Life’ Cycle Road Race which concluded on Sunday.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the National Cultural Centre last Sunday, Thompson informed the gathering that she told the team managers that they would have to abide by the rules of the GCF which are governed by the Union of Cycling International (UCI) and should their respective teams breach any of the rules they would be penalised.
Thompson said if Team COCO’s management officials do not apologise, she will then write them and certain decisions will be made regarding their participation in future GCF events.
The team’s owner, Ian `QB’ Davis, withdrew his team after the second stage because Race Commissar Malcolm imposed a 30-second penalty when Davis breached one of the rules by not waiting for the stipulated three-minute break to be established before they are allowed to feed their cyclists.
According to Sonaram, the team’s bus went to the fore and fed the cyclists after only a 90-second break had been established, thus the penalty, but Davis denied this had happened, with Sonaram saying that even with the 30-second penalty, the team were leading the race by approximately three minutes and it is disappointing that they withdrew.
Anthony, in his address, congratulated the cyclists for completing the course and making the event a success, but would have loved to see Team COCO’s issue sorted out before the start of the third stage and the team remain in the race, making the race which has become the marquee event on the local cycling calendar even bigger.
Dr Anthony stated that all the stakeholders must come together and a race secretariat must be set up where the rules would be formulated and disseminated to all prior to the start of the activity.
He described the event as a signature one and noted that he does not want the event to attract controversy, but would rather like to see a high level of maturity on all sides and willingness for mediation to be an option when necessary.
He suggested that the race must now be used to bring awareness to chronic non-communicable diseases including hypertension and cardio vascular diseases.
“The reason is that there are too many persons in our country who at age 40 to 45 years of age are coming down with heart attacks and this is because they are not exercising anymore and not eating properly,” Dr Anthony noted, as he called on the cyclists to be peer educators.
Director of Sport Neil Kumar in brief remarks congratulated all the participants and thanked members of the public for their support, while he also thanked the parents of the cyclists for their support as well.
He acknowledged that this year’s event attracted more persons than previous years and noted that it was very competitive. He remarked that since Dr Anthony took over as Minister of Sport he has made the event an international one and the NSC will work on making it a truly international one.
Regarding Team COCO’s withdrawal after the second stage, Kumar said the GCF did the right thing since everyone has to abide by the rules.

(By Michael DaSilva)