“We will keep up Wilbert Benjamin’s legacy” – widow

Yvette Benjamin, the widow of the late champion cyclist Wilbert Benjamin, has pledged to keep up his legacy by donating to cyclists and continuing to support racing events.

Mrs Benjamin spoke to Guyana Times after the final leg of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) time trials which was held in Berbice.
“We have to keep up his legacy and do the exact thing that he does. Donate stuff, sponsor races and so on. Me and my daughters and we also have the coach (Randolph Roberts) to help us,” she said. In the upcoming 2021 cycling season, the Benjamin family will be keeping up the cycling legacy of the late Wilbert.
Coming from a family of cyclists (father, uncle, older brother), Wilbert Benjamin raced to three national school titles in the 80s, and went on to represent Guyana at the Inter-Guianas, CARIFTA, Pan-American and Texaco Games in his transition from junior to senior champion rider.
Aside from being a champion cyclist and businessman, Benjamin can be hailed as a philanthropist who often contributed cash or kind to young riders, and to the Flying Ace Cycling Club (FACC) of which he was a member.
He eventually migrated in 1992, and spent some years in Monserrat before taking up residence in Canada in 1997. There, he opened the Benjamin Sports Sales & Services, a store which offered bicycles and other cycling equipment and services.
He later opened the Benjamin Sports Store in Fyrish, Berbice, which catered to not only cycling but other sporting disciplines. He also had been the owner of the Benjamin Fitness Gym in Fyrish. Since his migration, the cyclist would return frequently to host road races and give back to cyclists and clubs across the country.

Benjamin was involved in an accident in August while making his morning rounds on his bicycle as part of his daily training routine on the Hampshire Public Road. After being struck down by a motor car, the former national cyclist lost consciousness and was taken to the Anamayah Hospital on the Corentyne, where he underwent routine tests, including CT scans. The hospital had found no irregularities and the cyclist was discharged sometime later.
However, he started to experience headaches, and returned to the hospital, where a test revealed he had sustained a fractured skull and brain damage. It was concluded that Benjamin would have to be taken to Georgetown to undergo surgery. While one private hospital had no doctor on hand to perform the surgery, Benjamin was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
It was then that a mix-up occurred. According to Benjamin’s family members, the staff on the ambulance in which he was being transported realised that there was not enough oxygen for the patient for the journey to Georgetown, and the decision was made to go back to the hospital on the Corentyne. However, upon their return, the Berbice River Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, causing a lengthier delay.
Benjamin was eventually taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, but succumbed hours prior to his arrival there.