The 24th Annual Krem New Year’s Day Cycling Classic

The Twenty-fourth Annual Krem New Year’s Day Cycling Classic is less than a week away and cyclists from all over the country are preparing diligently for the upcoming tournament.  While training remains ongoing, there are serious concerns among riders, cycling officials and sports enthusiasts about the existing condition of the Phillip Goldson Highway due to incessant rains.  Across the thoroughfare are countless potholes and the threat of spillages are very real.  News Five spoke with Deon Leslie, president of the Belize Cycling Association, earlier today and he told us that the association is in talks with the Ministry of Works in an effort to address the problem prior to the race next Wednesday.

Deon Leslie, President, Belize Cycling Association

Deon Leslie

“It’s a major concern Isani.  In fact, I just walked out of a meeting with some members of the executive where we were discussing that exact topic, the conditions of the road.  In fact, tomorrow, myself, along with the head commisseur and along with representatives from the sponsor, from Krem, we will be doing a course inspection where we will be driving the course from here to the border and back just to go over everything and have a plan B just in case.  We are working with a plan B.  We are informing sponsors at this moment, well Krem is informing sponsors at this moment that, there may be a possibility that they need to change some of the station prizes.  So we are looking into everything, we’re having a plan B, but early this morning as I got up my first order of business was to contact the Ministry of Works and I did that early this morning.  I spoke to the CEO Mr. Gentle and he just reiterated something that we discussed earlier that they would fix this road.  When I was talking to him, he said that he was going into a meeting with his chief engineer and other members from the Ministry of Works and on the drive over here to do this interview I spoke to him again and he said yes, they are giving me their word that they will fix the road.  They are just looking at the weather, as you can see it’s raining again and the forecast has it that we’ll probably have rain on and off between now and New Year’s Day.  So he’s looking at that, that’s the only concern they have so he’s given the word that they will address all the hotspots on the road between here and Corozal and back.”