By Net Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF), St Clair Williams, is defending the body amidst claims it has not held any fundraising event nor has it contributed to the ongoing medical fund for cyclist, Andre Simon.
Williams said the federation was involved in a number of initiatives aimed at raising funds for Simon, including one held on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show in May.
“We had persons call in and said they want to pledge a $50 or $100 a $200 or a $20. Subsequent to us recording that information, I would have been up and down Antigua trying to collect the monies from the persons who would have called in and say they are going to support the venture. After I would have collected that, I put it in an excel sheet and I delivered all the monies to Beatrice Simon [the sister of Andre Simon] where she signed that she collected the amount,” he said.
Sean Weathered, one of four cyclist struck by a car allegedly driven by Kenyatta Benjamin of Hatton, called on the federation to make public its contributions to Simon and or any events organised by the body to assist in the efforts.
Williams said the federation has been part of many efforts put on by groups and individuals while members of the body have personally supported ventures.
“We supported as individuals, just about every fundraising event. I have been to fundraising events they would have put on for the medical expenses and I have seen other cyclists there supporting the events as well and what we don’t want to do is to be clashing with events if we want to maximise what we want to do in terms of adding support for the medical fund. What we didn’t want to do was to have three and four events at one time and then it is not properly attended,” he said.
The cycling boss revealed also that a fundraising event involving the drag racing fraternity has been in the pipeline for some time now and that he has been is dialogue with a member, Renee Ambrose, over a possible date and time.
“I had a conversation with her and she said she would take back the whole idea of having that fun ride from the Pan Am Base and … she was supposed to have taken that to the membership or to the executive for them to make a decision and come back to formulate how we could go about it to bring both associations together to have this fun ride where we could definitely raise more funds for the Andre Simon Medical Fund,” Williams said.
Weathered, 45, was struck first by the Toyota Vitz during an early morning ride along Sir George Walter Highway on May 8.
He watched in shock as Simon, Ghere Coates and Tiziano Rosignoli were struck a second later, before the car apparently sped off, crashing into a lamppost a short distance away.
Simon is currently at the TIRR Memorial Hospital in Texas, USA receiving medical care.