By Neto Baptiste
Re-elected head of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF), St Clair Williams, said the organisation will place more emphasis on the off the bike development of its members.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Williams said that although they will continue to push youth development, there are other areas within the sport that, once developed, could benefit the membership.
“We have a series of seminars we are going to put together at least once every month and that will help the cyclists to grow as well because they are supposed to be putting in the work on the bike, so we are going to do the work off the bike.
“We have anti-doping seminars we are going to put on, we are going to have persons from the Ministry of Sports coming in, we’re going to have dieticians coming in and we’re going to have members from the NOC as well coming in at different times to educate the members of the cycling fraternity on how, as an Olympic sport, we can marry all these things together,” he said.
Williams was elected unopposed for a second four-year term when the ABCF held its AGM last week at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. He is joined by newcomers Cassandra Ryan and Jamaul Francis who were elected as treasurer and assistant treasurer respectively.
Derrick Sutherland was elected first vice president, Cleofoster Harris as second vice president, Cliff Williams as secretary and Cassandra Murray as assistant secretary.
Williams expressed confidence in his executive.
“They bring a lot to the table and I am hoping I could draw a lot on their expertise. We have a set of persons who bring a wide range of expertise and we know Cleofoster and the skillsets that he brings. Cliff has a lot of skills … over the last 10 to 15 years he would have been president of the cycling federation and his secretary position at the NOC. We have Cassandra Ryan who has been a banker for at least quarter of a century and we have Jamaul Francis who is a newcomer. Derrick Sutherland has been there as well over at least the past 10 years and we also have Cassandra Murray and she has been working well alongside Cliff Williams in the secretarial position,” he said.
The cycling boss is hoping the ABCF’s new season could pedal off at the beginning of March.
“We have to put a calendar together first that will cover right down to the end. The last race we normally have is the closing race after we would have competed in the Caribbean Cycling Championships and it’s scheduled this year for the 15 and 16 of October so our season will end just about the end of October to wrap up the season,” he said.
Williams said the new body is slated to meet this week to plot the way forward.