NEW Guyana Cycling Federation President Nigel Eliakim London is keen on meeting the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jnr.
During a recent interview with Chronicle Sport, London, who replaced Horace Burrowes following the latter’s resignation, said, “There is on my part a better understanding of the importance of politics, in reference to governance, and its role that should be played in sports. Whether we want to admit it, politics play a very, very, critical role in the development of any sport, and in this case cycling, there is really in need or injection or healthy dose of assistance from the political circles, be it opposition or in this case the government side.”
London, who previously served as a Vice-President of the GCF explained, “I understand my role and my interaction with other political figures and so on, could be healthy, as long as we keep the focus that it’s a sport. It’s one in which our youths and in this case, many instances the older men and women that have become involved in cycling, I do foresee that there should be a very healthy relationship if I understand what the political climate is like, and I know what it should also be like, if we are all matured about this situation.”
Looking back at the reason for his ascent to the top official of cycling due to Burrowes’ decision to exit and how he intends to navigate in such a challenging role, London, who was the Prime Ministerial Candidate for The Forward Guyana Movement at the 2025 Regional and General Elections, said, “I have understood from first hand some of the challenges that Mr. Burrowes would have faced. It had a lot to do with the role and the marriage between various entities and also individuals and the sport. What is healthy for me or what has become very important in this situation is the fact that every person who is an enthusiast says that they really want to see the sport advance and the peloton group that rides now it’s quite large about 60 to 70 people on their bikes, and it has dwindled to 20 to 30 at times, so we have a much larger number of people who are riding, and they all said they just want to see there to be a better environment in which to ride.”
Having served under Burrowes, London offered these words of appreciation, stating, “I do credit him with being very, very strong to have been around for so long, and whether persons choose to admit it. He is the only president in our country’s history, who had the honour of hosting the elite Caribbean Championships, which we gained a Bronze Medal through Briton John. He hosted the Junior Caribbean Championship, so much has been done under his tenure, although it would have been rocky as some people would say. But cycling is a tough sport, and you have to be all of this.”
On the immediate task at hand and meeting with the Minister of Sports Charles Ramson (Jr.), London had welcoming words notably, when questioned if the GCF had met with the minister, “Not as yet, and I am eager to have that engagement, we have our first GCF executive meeting tomorrow, and in that meeting we hope to discuss the importance of having conversations with the likes of the Minister Charles Ramson (Jr), a representative from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport because you know that in this mammoth budget, $6B would have been allocated for three, culture, youth and sport, hopefully we can have a supplemental budget where $6B is just allocated for sports in general. I said initially that my role as a political figure, as some media outlets have presented it, is good.”
Saying that as politicians there should be things in common London added “Here I have one who should be a colleague of mine in the political arena in Charles Ramson, so we both understand governance and how things should be, but along with that we look forward to having conversation with the likes of individuals in the National Sports Commission, and importantly in the Ministry of Education, because we cannot get where the feeder ground is. And one of the main focuses should be on the youth and children, because that is where inspiration comes from. The great Tadej Pogacar started as a little boy, well he played football first and branched off to cycling… Mark Cavendish, one of the greatest cyclists ever, also started as children. And we know our very own Joelyn Joseph started as a teenager 14, 15 years old. So, if we can get that relationship with the Ministry of Education, hopefully we could even have a national cycling championship for school children, not a part of the national inter schools; but cycling in general. Because it happens all over the world and why can’t we have that here also in Guyana?.”
