Foundation built for fallen cyclist

Ariel Rosado died in a terrible traffic accident nine months ago in Belize City. The family of the well known and promising cyclist today announced the establishment of an education foundation in his memory.  News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports from the Radisson.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Twenty-eight year old Ariel Rosado, a celebrated athlete and promising young attorney, lost his life on the night of May 14^th, 2011 during a traffic accident while en route to Belize City with a close friend.  His death was a massive loss for his family as well as the cycling community with whom he made a name for himself at a very early age.  Since the tragedy his loved ones have been coping by keeping his memory alive through the establishment of a commemorative fund which was launched today.

Dr. Alvaro Rosado, Father

“The idea of [doing] something in Ariel’s memory came up immediately after his death and we were thinking of a race actually, the 9^th of March race to be dedicated to his memory but then Bruce Sanchez, the father and son, approached us and suggested that a foundation would be a more fitting memorial.”

…and so the initiative was conceived.  With assistance from a host of friends the Ariel Rosado Memorial Education Foundation became a reality.  The endowment is a collection of donations that were made during an inaugural press conference at the Radisson.

Alvaro Rosado

Dr. Alvaro Rosado

“We certainly think that whatever resources we can raise would be better spent by offering scholarships than by sponsoring a race.  A race would only recall memories for Ariel for a day but if we can give a scholarship it will live with the child for his life.  We hope that Ariel’s example will be one that will be followed by kids, especially the ones who we hope to bring into the fold of the foundation, to offer them scholarships and so on.  We are hoping that we will be able to combine sports with education.  Ariel was a good spokesman; he did not excel in academics because of his sporting activities.  When he went to university he did much better than he was doing in high school because he had given up the cycling then but he had certainly excelled in both areas and we would like to see other kids trying to do the same thing and developing a healthy mind and a healthy body.”

Mens sana en corpore sano, a healthy mind in a healthy body, is certainly one to live by.  Realizing that maxim led Ariel to many victories on the asphalt.  His bike, trophies and jerseys were on display this morning, serving as a reminder of his many accomplishments.  The foundation, on the other hand, has set a goal offering a number of scholarships it believes is achievable.

Dr. Alvaro Rosado

“We originally started with the thought of offering twenty scholarships a year at an average of two thousand dollars a year per child, that’s forty thousand dollars per year.  At the end of four years that would be a commitment of a hundred and sixty thousand dollars.  We’re not certain we can do it but we certainly will try and continue to try for that goal of twenty scholarships in addition to sponsoring sporting events and athletes who will represent Belize abroad but need some funding to do so.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

It is an ambitious project in its formative phase and the foundation says that it will go through a selection process to determine who the first recipient of the scholarship will be.