GUYANA'S 'CYCLING YOUTH AMBASSADOR'

GUYANA’S ‘CYCLING YOUTH AMBASSADOR’

Feb 07, 2010 Sports

– Enzo Matthews is a talented young cyclist

There was an arresting sense of purpose and service juxtaposed with personal ambition at an important intersection in his life. Enzo Matthews understands cycling and its situation in Guyana with an enviable reservoir of knowledge.
The national junior cyclist sees himself as a martyr of change in a discipline that has been at the forefront of recent administrative challenges. His advocacy, however, comes in one of the most significant years of his adolescent career.
Matthews is familiar with the sport’s bureaucracy and understands his role as perhaps the most talented junior cyclist in Guyana, but he will not allow his personal ambitions to be the hand that shuts his mouth and that was clear yesterday.
Kaieteur Sport continues its weekly column that is aimed at highlighting some of the best junior sportsmen and women in the country. This week we magnify Mathews, an athlete worthy of the designate, ‘Cycling’s Youth Ambassador’. “What we really need right now is a change at the cycling federation. We don’t get to ride on major tours because of them,” Matthews frankly said with a level of seriousness that communicated the general feeling of local cyclists.
But how did Matthews get to this place where he feels that he functions for a cause that is greater than just winning events at the National Park Circuit, in the Caribbean and further a-field? There must have been a journey of sorts.
That school of thought came largely from his mentor, Jude Bentley, who introduced him to the sport when he was 14 years old.
He rode in the BMX 12-14 category then where an overwhelming passion for the sport was developed.
“We just used to ride about the place for fun and there was this guy named Romario, who said that he could beat everybody.
So Jude encouraged me to see what he had; he beat me like three times straight but after then, I was beating him all the time,” Matthews said.
His orientation with racing bikes was ad hoc. He was just tossed into a national team with no experience or knowledge of that version of competition on his side. He was only 15 on that tour to Trinidad and Tobago, and had to learn fast.
“When I started with racing bikes the transition was pretty hard. I never rode racing bikes before I went to Trinidad. I was selected and like two days before I set up a racing bike. I got like two bronzes and a couple of DQs (disqualifications) as well,” he joked.
“I knew nothing about racing bikes then. When the races were explained to me about the meaning of the different lines and all that I was pretty amazed,” the 19-year-old national junior cyclists continued in the interview yesterday.
Matthews’ growth in the sport from then has been rapid. He consistently went to compete in the West Indies versus the World Championships in Trinidad and was part of the local contingent to the Caribbean Championships in 2007.
However, the former Saint Stanislaus College and School of the Nations student, got one of his first real taste of unnecessary administrative snobs when his team’s performance in Barbados for the Caribbean event was not recognised.
Matthews said that they were told in 2007 that their effort would not be standard because of an existing problem with the Guyana Cycling Federation. He said more information on the issue was not disclosed to them but they felt embarrassed.
The other cyclists on that tour included Geron Williams and Christopher Holder, who had won the juvenile category but was not recognised for it. Matthews rode in a higher group than he was supposed to because of a licensing problem.
“We were to also go to the Pan Am Games in Curacao but we didn’t get to go because of the federation. I was 16 and Mr. William Howard put the wrong thing on my licence,” he said, adding that you ride according to information on your license internationally.
Talented national junior cyclist that last represented Guyana at the Inter-Guiana Games in Suriname believes that the efforts of cyclists are seriously being undermined given all the necessary investment they usually make to compete.
“This year is a whole different game. I would have gone and lapped everyone in the Park. But they just cancelled the race just so dry and I lost my sponsorship,” Matthews said on losing out sponsorship for a recently cancelled cycling event.
The cycling federation had refused to licence riders on dubious grounds earlier this year, but this newspaper understands that the problem has been resolved and cycling will return to the National Park this weekend.
“When you look at those things, you get sponsorship from people, the sacrifices you make waking up 4am to ride 5-6 hours everyday, then you cant compete because the federation isn’t issuing licence, its not fair,” the Continental Cycling Club athlete believes.
He has, however, set his sight outside of Guyana this year. Matthews plans a trip overseas to train and compete, he will also launch his Central American and Caribbean (CAC) and Commonwealth Games bids this year.
Last year was my best year competitively, I had the momentum despite the challenges of cycling in Guyana,” Matthews said, adding that he anticipates an even better year, before informing that Dwayne Gibbs is helping him prepare.
He revealed that he has been doing a lot of swimming and jogging to prepare all the various types of muscles for better performance. Matthews is going to the top and he is not prepared to let local bureaucracy keep him down.