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Couva, Trinidad and Tobago – July 19, 2024 – The Guyana Cycling Federation is pleased to announce the successful conclusion of the Road Cycling Training Camp held at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Continental Development Satellite in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, from June 30 to July 8, 2024. The training camp aimed to enhance the skills and performance of promising cyclists in the region.

The camp saw the participation of three talented cyclists from Guyana: Alexander Leung, Sidwell Sandy and Aaron Newton. These athletes underwent intensive training sessions designed to improve their endurance, speed, and tactical understanding of road cycling under the guidance of top coaches and experts from the UCI.

Alexander Leung, known for his remarkable endurance and consistency, focused on enhancing his long-distance riding capabilities and race strategies. Aaron Newton, with his explosive sprinting ability, worked on optimising his sprint finishes and overall speed. Sidwell Sandy, an emerging talent, concentrated on building his strength and improving his climbing techniques.

 

The UCI Continental Development Satellite in Couva provided a world-class training environment, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and resources. The camp featured a variety of training modules, including the following:

Endurance Training: Long-distance rides and stamina-building exercises.

Speed Workouts: Sprint drills and interval training to increase speed.

Tactical Sessions: Race simulations and strategy planning.

Technical Skills: bike handling, cornering, and climbing techniques.

Nutrition and Recovery: Guidance on proper nutrition and effective recovery methods to maintain peak performance.

The athletes also had the opportunity to engage in knowledge-sharing sessions, where they learned from experienced coaches and interacted with fellow cyclists from different countries. These interactions provided valuable insights and fostered a spirit of camaraderie among the participants.

The Guyana Cycling Federation extends its heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Wayne DeAbreu of the Continental Cycling Club and the UCI Continental Development Satellite, for hosting the camp and providing an exceptional training experience. The federation is confident that the skills and knowledge gained by Sidwell Sandy, Alexander Leung, and Aaron Newton will significantly contribute to their future success in competitive cycling.

Last Tuesday, July 16, SASOD Guyana hosted a book launch of Dr. Nikoli Attai’s “Defiant Bodies: Making Queer Community in the Anglophone Caribbean” as part of the organisation’s twenty-first anniversary celebrations. The event was held at Herdmanston Lodge Hotel and was well attended by the diplomatic corps, elected officials, civil society advocates and the media.

A citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Attai is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University (CSU) where he focuses on Black queer and feminist studies. Dr. Attai is also a co-manager of the CSU Collab Lab – a collaborative research hub that investigates the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality inform a sense of belonging in varied political, cultural, social, economic, and historical contexts.

Dr. Attai was motivated to write “Defiant Bodies” by his profound commitment to queer communities throughout the Caribbean, and to share their stories. Dr. Attai spent time in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, where he observed how queer and trans people navigated life with limited resources. He also conducted research with transgender sex workers in these countries.

In his thought-provoking presentation, Dr. Attai drew attention to the difficult, and often violent situations, faced by queer people to promote discussion of how to resist these challenges both in the Caribbean and globally. Dr. Attai asserted that it is vital to consider the Caribbean’s colonial legacy in order to understand the current situation in which archaic laws continue to oppress these groups. “It is also important to challenge the false western perception of the Caribbean as a uniformly homophobic place where queer people are only suffering, when, in reality, there are defiant communities that are flourishing,” he said at last week’s launch. Dr. Attai notes that queer life is thriving “beneath the radar of the mainstream public space” and across contexts that differ in terms of race, class, gender, and other socio-economic factors. Increasingly, queer communities are moving into the open by utilizing different social spaces that contribute to building community.

The launch concluded with an engaging discussion with attendees, during which Dr. Attai discussed strategies for promoting human rights for queer people in Guyana and the Caribbean.