BCA: 15+ foreign cyclist to ride in Holy Sat. race
With just over a week until one of the biggest national events on the sporting calendar, officials of the Belize Cycling Association say all the pieces are in place for the seventy-fifth ride for the roses. At a meeting last night in Belize City, association executives and members of the technical committee, held a closed door meeting with managers of the various teams to iron out the details of the race. Sticking to tradition, this year the controversial topic on the table is exactly how many foreign riders will be allowed to hit the highway on Holy Saturday. President of the association, Kevin Hall, says that at the start of the year it was proposed to cap the number of outsiders who can take part in any local race at ten. While there was initial dissention in the ranks regarding that recommendation, today Hall says the proposal was ratified without any changes.
Kevin Hall, Pres., Belize Cycling Association
“At the meeting last night the people present voted back for the same thing, so I am not sure why they had all this confusion in the first place. Because it’s the same thing that was in place at that meeting, is the same thing that majority of them vote for last night. So I just think that some people were being mischievous, and probably it is part of their tactics going into the race to try to intimidate each other. That’s the only thing I could assume, because last night the same ones that were making all the noise, voted back for the same thing.”
Patrick Jones
“So how many foreign riders are going to be taking part in this years Holy Saturday cycle classic?”
Kevin Hall
“In terms of the foreigners that the teams could bring in, that would be ten and we’re inviting our friends from Mexico; we have a team that will be coming from Guatemala. So in total I think we should see, at max between fifteen and twenty foreigners.”
The seventy-fifth Cross Country Cycling Classic starts at six o’clock on Holy Saturday morning and travels from Belize City to San Ignacio and back, finishing at the yellow line inside the Marion Jones Sporting Complex. Over sixty senior riders are expected to take part in the race.
