…Supporters and road traffic doing more harm than good
Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Ivan Persaud indicated that the health and safety of wheelsmen who will be competition in this year’s Three-Stage Cycling meet on November 5-6, is high on the agenda of the NSC.
This year there will be no Five-Stage cycling meet but rather a reduction to a three Stages race which is a collaborative effort of the National Sports Commission, the Ministry of Health, Department of Culture Youth and Sport and the Guyana Cycling Federation.
NSC Chairman, Ivan Persaud
Persaud, speaking with Guyana Times Sport, said that this year it the NSC along with Director of Sport Christopher Jones are working hard to make sure the next Three-Stage cycle road race is the best and will be looking to eradicate the hurdles, noting that “like last year we are trying our best to change all the anomalies.”
The NSC Chairman acknowledged that there will be a priority for the wheelsmen to have quality meals during their encampment, as well as their mobility and accommodation, citing a movement from camping at schools to a more structured facility.
“We are going to make sure the preparation of the meals for the cyclists is second to none, we are going to make sure the running of the competition, the transportation and the accommodation are second to none” adding that “We are moving from where we were by hosting cyclists in schools and all of that too having proper accommodation because you can’t want the guy compete the next day and didn’t have a proper night’s rest.”
Recognizing that road race is always hazardous for cyclists, Persaud said that the NSC will be having plans to make such events incident free, adding that there is a good relationship between the NSC and the Guyana Police Force but there is need for more interactions especially with the ranks that are assigned to the events.
He explained that, “If you got a cyclist who breaks away from the pack he has to have security, and then another cyclist breaks away, but if there is only two officers, it makes the unsecured riders vulnerable to accidents and outside interference.”
In his opinion, the NSC along with the force can “only anticipate and make provisions as one guy at the back could suffer without protection, so hopefully we need to have the police understand and move in closer from deliberations to talk directly to the rank of the day.”
For the three-stage on November 5 and 6, riders will be competing for a total of G$400,000, the riders will take to the roadways on Saturday at 07:00h to complete a 65 mile road race from Georgetown heading to Mahaicony where they would return to the starting point for a finish while completing an Individual time trial from Georgetown to Plaisance, a stretch of 3.5 miles from 15:00h.
The wheelsmen will then take to the Outer circuit of the National Park to compete in a 30-lap race beginning from 11:00h on November 6. The 30-lap race is the equivalent of 70 miles.
