By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF), St Clair Williams, said a number of factors have contributed to a noticeable dip in the number of cyclists for the body’s last two official races.
Prior to the Andre Simon Fun Ride held last Sunday, only nine riders took part in the federation’s Subway 3 Stage race, while the previous event, the Robert Peters 2 Stage Race, was also poorly attended.
Williams said that based on feedback from the cyclists, a number of factors are seemingly at play.
“I was speaking to some of the cyclists, in particular some of the junior cyclists, and they had some bike issues. Some weren’t training as much and then we had some of the senior members who said they had work commitment and so for different reasons we didn’t have the numbers we usually have which is around 20 to 25 or so,” he said.
According to the cycling boss also, the season has been a pretty lengthy one and believes that some cyclists may have just decided to call it a day.
“Our season is one of the longest seasons in sports because we usually start around January or February and now we are all the way down to October. So sometimes you will have low numbers, especially coming down to the end of the season but we are wrapping up. We only have one more event to go in terms of racing and that’s on the 30th [October] and that is the Jenel Warner Circuit race at the Pan Am Base and then we do the invitational for all the schools to come out and show their stuff,” he said.
Reports had surfaced some weeks ago that cyclists boycotted the Robert Peters event in protest over the manner in which the federation is being run. Williams had however said he was not aware of any form of protest from the cyclists.
