GCF invites stakeholders to General Meeting on Thursday

By Avenash Ramzan

The main stakeholders in the cycling fraternity have been invited to a General Meeting, to be held on Thursday to address a number of issues, key among them the deep division that exists in the sport.

In a correspondence seen by News Room Sport, dated February 7, 2017, and signed by president of the Guyana Cycling Federation, Horace Burrowes, the members and clubs affiliated to the Federation have been invited to a General Meeting at the Guyana Olympic Association headquarters on High Street, Kingston, starting at 17:00h.

Heading the list of items to be discussed is ‘Respect for the GCF and respect for members of the GCF.’ Cycling in Guyana is in turmoil with the Federation being replaced by a nine-member Interim Management Committee, comprising one member from nine of the 11 clubs affiliated to the GCF.

Burrowes’ leadership style- coupled with him being based in the United States- has come in for harsh criticism, with close to 40 riders signing a petition last year for his removal. Three other executives- Vice-president Jerome Allicock, Treasurer Rosana Sookoo and Secretary Maria Leung- were also listed on the petition.

Following the riders insistence that the quartet be removed, an Ordinary General Meeting was held late last year in the absence of elected GCF officials, and an IMC was formed.

Since then, both the GCF and IMC have claimed that they have the power to govern the sport. The stalemate has warranted the intervention of the UCI and the Guyana Olympic Association, but the issue has still not been sorted out.

Last weekend, the riders continued to be defiant, boycotting the GCF road race, with the majority of the riders who competed coming from Team Coco’s and WS United, the two clubs that were absent from the Ordinary General Meeting in December.

Incidentally, the four executives, who were the centre of the petition, are from those two clubs. Burrowes, in an interview this week, claimed that being based outside of Guyana is no hindrance to his running of the Federation.