A year that’ll be focused on Youth and Ladies Development – GCF President Burrowes

Jan 17, 2018 Sports

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Not satisfied with efficiency of executive but pushing on

By Franklin Wilson
President of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) USA based Horace Burrowes has declared that the New Year will see his federation focusing more on the development of youth and especially female cyclists.

Burrowes, who traveled back to Guyana on six occasions in 2017 to ensure that the sport continued on its developmental path in spite of the challenges being faced, notes that this year is very important to the GCF as it will further define its direction.
The former national cyclist, reflecting on 2017 admitted that even though Guyana participated in a record number of overseas engagements, there is still much to accomplish when it comes to the administration of the sport at the club and executive levels.
“This is an area as you and Guyana are well aware that has been most testing over the years. While there have been a lot of challenges in getting it right. There is way too much talk and not enough sincerity when it comes to our administrators really working in the interest of the sports development and especially our young people. This needs to change starting this year.”
Burrowes shared that this year the federation will once again be doing the Point’s Races apart from the National Championships while multiple overseas engagements are on the tables.
“We will also be continuing our focus on events including the 2018 Commonwealth Games; Pan American Games (Road and Track); World Championships and Caribbean Championships, 2019 Pan-American Championships and 2020 Olympics since it is the GCF’s desire to have as many cyclists as possible qualify and attend these mega events.
Of course this would only be possible with the necessary funding being made available through entities the likes of the Guyana Olympic Association, National Sports Commission, Ministry of Sport and Corporate Guyana.”
The GCF President also lamented the fact that every federation affiliate need to play its role in order for the federation to move forward. To boost the development on the distaff side, Burrowes has informed that he has purchased three cycles and will be donating same to riders between the ages of 13-15 and will also secure coaching to assist in their development.
Reflecting on 2017, Burrowes stated that it was a great year for the sport despite struggling with financial support. “We were able to participate in most of the international events and this is something that has never done in the past, therefore it’s been a great year for the country, in terms of cycling.”
He noted that as a federation the focus in the past would have been just the National Championships but they for the first time introduced the Points Races which was a resounding success based on feedback from the riders.
“Of course there would have been some negative feedbacks but those did not outweigh the positives. As President, we do believe that this is the way to go and we would be doing another series of these races again since they are quite important towards our development and a good way of getting cyclists prepared for international events.”

Burrowes continued: “These races also afford all our cyclists the opportunity to vie equally for places on our national teams. What is also does is present a level playing field where no one rider can feel they have a hold on any team but rather, must work to be selected for national duty. We have changed the dynamic with these races.”
Jamal John emerged as the top cyclist from the Point’s Races etching his name in the history books for this inaugural event.
The GCF head extended compliments to Hassan Mohamed whom the federation honoured at their awards ceremony in November for his continued series of races around the country.
“The other clubs that would run off races from time to time must also be commended for pitching in their own small way. I would also like to commend our National Road Race Champions for their achievement at the National Championships.”
The likes of United Kingdom based Claire Fraser-Green who won the national the female segment for the fifth year in a row, Briton John (Junior), David Hicks (Juvenile), Warren ‘Forty’ McKay (Veterans Under-45) and Andrew Spencer who won the Over-45 category.
Races attended – The federation sent a team of young riders to the Pan-American Championships for the first time in the Dominican Republic and this was followed by our representation in Trinidad & Tobago at the Pan-American Track Championships.
Mr. James Joseph (60-64 age group) attended and successfully competed at the UCI World Masters Championships in California, USA where he became the first Guyanese to set a New World Record in the Flying 200m of (11:042s) – the previous record in this event was 11:743s which was set in 2002.
Joseph racked in respective gold, silver, and bronze medals there. Also attending these championships was Aubrey Gordon who competed at the 1984 Olympics while Joseph did the same at the 1980 Olympics.
Guyana had privilege for the first time in its history of sending a junior competitor (Briton John) in September to the World Championships which were held in Norway. The GCF also attended the Junior Caribbean Championships held in Barbados where a five-member team competed; Jonathan Ramshuchit and David Hicks were the juveniles, while the three juniors were Briton John, Nigel Duguid Jnr., and Curtis Dey. The team was managed by Steve Ramshuchit.
“Thankfully, these riders all did well as first timers even though we did not get a podium finish. There are real signs of talent here, with the correct attitude and consistent discipline there is no doubt that we will achieve podium spots going forward as continue to move forward, I am happy with the direction we’re moving in.”
As a federation, we met and kept our affiliates updated and will continue this trend in 2018. Some of the clubs, Burrowes noted have been consistently attending meetings while some have been and he is hoping that this trend will improve going forward.
“Nevertheless, we will continue to do what the GCF knows is right, we will continue to respect and follow the constitution which is sacrosanct. We will continue to encourage all clubs to come to the GCF meetings to receive information, so that they can inform their cyclists of what’s happening in the GCF and in cycling. We’re not going to disregard any club; we are here to develop cycling through the clubs.”
Touching on his Executive, Burrowes was quick to point out that he is not at all satisfied with the way this all important arm of the GCF is moving.
“We aren’t functioning how a federation should; this is definitely not a one-man show and has to be a team effort. If only a few members of the Executive Committee are working we will never be able to reach our full potential. So moving forward, we will try to put individuals in place to help this federation develop, until our next election in 2019.”
The President informed that he personally funded and part funded Guyana’s attendance at the various overseas events last year and also funded the purchasing of uniforms for the teams which amounted to almost USD $20,000.

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