By Carlena Knight
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Association St Clair Williams says despite the fact that his sporting discipline doesn’t involve much contact they are still going to abide by the decision made.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Sports instituted a 30-day ban on all domestic sports in an attempt to decrease the chances of the corona virus or COVID-19 spreading locally.
“A lot of them were interested in continuing racing but we got information and word from the UCR which is the governing body for cycling that we should follow all measures that were put in place by the Ministry of Health in the prospective countries and we have been doing that thus far. Last week, just before the news broke from the Minister, I had called the office and she told that they might be having a meeting concerning sporting activities on the island and then immediately after that the Minister sent out the document saying that all sporting activities should cease.
“We are following that guideline and as much as a lot of people may think that cycling is not a contact sport, so to speak, then we should follow that guideline.”
He says although a number of plans have been halted due to the ban, they are still encouraging members to cover their financial obligations.
“Normally, what happens is like during the first race most persons would come and sign up especially if you are a cyclist and paying their dues and then later on you have the regular members who are not particularly cyclists, they will pay subsequent to that. So we’re on a drive just to make sure everybody is on top of that and everything goes well going forward for the season. It might be a little slower now with the advent of coronavirus, but I think more than likely everybody normally complies with their situation.”
Williams was a guest on the Good Morning JoJo Sports show when he made those comments.