Female Cross Country Champ: “I Told You So”

Kaya Cattouse

Just last year, the executive of the federation was returned after there was a challenge from a slate initially including cyclists Kaya Cattouse and Tariq Cano. Both Cano and Cattouse had to withdraw from the slate, which was later filled by Alexi Ordonez, Karen Vernon, Shawn Duncan and John Burns. Although they ended up losing to the incumbent which has Orson Butler as President and Dion Leslie as V.P., the Ordonez slate maintained that there were numerous vexing issues and cyclists were generally unhappy with the state of affairs. Now that Williams has exposed the federation, many are calling for the removal of the executive. Kaya Cattouse says it is now really a case of “we told you so.”

Kaya Cattouse, Female Cross Country Champion 2019

“It’s like saying I told you so. Tariq Cano and I were accused of only speaking up because it was around election time, but now that people are directly affected is when people want to talk up. There are cyclists who didn’t even come to election to vote, but now after the cross country, they have a lot to say. It’s like you didn’t have an input in getting them there, but now you have a lot to say about them being there. I mean this whole thing could have been avoided. Cyclists out-rightly said this is the federation we want to run cycling in this country.  So now this is what we have to deal with for the next four years. How are we going to deal with that? I have been crying for a while now. I have done countless interviews, crying about the malpractices of the federation. It’s almost as if it was falling on deaf ears. But now we have Justin Williams, a renowned, a world class athlete; now he cries and now everybody hears. And it is bittersweet because I am not happy that Justin is being treated like this, but I am happy in the sense that it had to take someone like him to speak out for everyone to hear. So like I said; it is a bittersweet situation.”