The cycling world without JawMeighan
In the aftermath of the heartbreaking loss of champion cyclist Ernest ‘JawMeighan’ Meighan, there have been overwhelming expressions of sympathy to family and friends, as well as the wider cycling community. On Monday, we reflected on fond memories of the two-time Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Champion. His colleagues celebrated his many achievements both on and off the circuit and shared recollections of time spent with the Belizean icon in his glory. Tonight, we once again reflect on the life of JawMeighan and the impact of his tragic loss on the cycling world.
Alan Auil, Cycling Aficionado/Friend of Ernest Meighan
Alan Auil
“I think the effect isn’t just about cycling. I hope it has a big effect on the young men out there carrying pistols and I’d hop that they’d realize that something like this, I hope it wakes them up to see that this is wrong, we can’t be doing this. And I hope it has a more national effect than just a cycling effect. Cycling is too small to deal with something like this. This impacts lives and this impacts, you know, all the cycling community of course but I think the whole nation as well. JawMeighan great for Belize.”
Santiago Castillo Jr.
Santiago Castillo Jr., Team Owner/Friend
“The name JawMeighan he picked up, he tells me from Meighan and as a kid they saw him as big jaw…so JawMeighan. He also had another name “Clack-Clacks,” which anytime he change ih gear, he change it purposely soh yo hear clack-clack and JawMeighan gone down the road. And he was so fast that when he moves, yon oh have time to respond. He had the greatest amount of speed at zero distance meaning most riders need a very high tempo lead out. JahMeighan could go from zero to sixty, ten miles an hour, bup…in no time—when yo see, ih done deh down the road. Another name of course that everybody knows his is the famous one, the Golden Boy and that’s because of the gold medals he won in different regional competitions; the fact that Belize could always depend on JawMeighan to bring back gold. Cross Country which for us is gold, he won both 1997 under the BelChi Banner, 2001 under my banner; he would have won in 2005 had he not had a bad crash. His crank broke at Hattieville. And all in all, he was in fact Belize’s Golden Boy…He was, as other people have said, our Michael Jordan, our Muhammad Ali.”
Isani Cayetano
“In terms of the loss that this has or the impact that this has on the cycling community, share with us your thoughts or your feelings on that.”
Andrew Ordonez
Andrew Ordonez, Cycling Aficionado/Friend of Ernest Meighan
“Mein it’s like it ripped a part of our hearts out. My phone rang off the hook, I mean, my friend said, ‘Andrew, please tell me it’s not true.” And I said, “Well I have to be real, it’s true.” And like I couldn’t even work the rest of the day. I worked very slow because it keeps coming back to me and it says it’s not true, it’s like a dream.”
Funeral arrangements for the slain cyclist are yet to be announced.
