GCF National Championships Senior Road Race... No winner declared as race ends in protest; GCF to send video of finish to UCI for decision

GCF National Championships Senior Road Race… No winner declared as race ends in protest; GCF to send video of finish to UCI for decision

May 24, 2021 Sports

GCF VP Enzo Matthews, reviewing some video evidence with concerned parties following the GCF National Championship Senior Road Race which ended in protest. Franklin Wilson photo

Kaieteur News – The Senior Road Race championship of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) ended in protest yesterday with two cyclists protesting the outcome claiming that Briton John (unofficial winner) pulled in their path as they all sprinted to the finish line just outside the entrance to Banks DIH, Thirst Park.
It was a demanding 100-mile event which started in rain and ended in hazy sunshine in a three-way sprint home which John won but no official results were released as the protest was heard and is being investigated.
Third Vice President of the GCF Enzo Matthews held an initial hearing with the three cyclists and representatives from their clubs whilst also showing some video evidence to them and allowing them to represent their claim.
Following this exercise, Matthews declared that the GCF would not be making a decision but would be sending the video evidence to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for that body to review and make a decision.
Matthews spoke following the meeting with the cyclists and their representatives: “The GCF at this time will not be making a decision regarding this. We had a formal protest by Mr. Paul De Nobrega, seconded by Mr. Romello Crawford. The reason why we would have taken this decision, because, I’m going to say it in a very Guyanese manner, everyone seems to know the rules, and when you are in a position of that state it means that we need to send it to the proper authority, which is the UCI, the governing body.
We have rear camera video and we have front camera video of the last two hundred meters of this event, we will be sending off this information to the UCI and depending on their decision that would be final. At this time, we do not have an official winner. We do apologise that all the curtains could not come down at this time.”
Matthews who is responsible for fund raising in eth GCF noted that he was happy to see cycling up and pedaling and the ability to be able to bring it live to viewers to show the love for the sport here.
“Because, as much as we are in a pandemic, we still have the youngsters, very energetic, very motivated to ride and that is the most important thing. We are not here as a Federation to not motivate guys, to kill the sport, we are here to promote and make sure everyone is happy having fun with their families also because there is no support in cycling without your family and then your sponsors. So again we would like to say thank you to the fans and we will be giving you a decision as soon as it is forwarded back to us.” (Franklin Wilson)