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Guyana is by no means a powerhouse in cycling. Guyana is a little tropical off the beaten path English speaking country located on the main land of South America bordered by Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname. Although I said little, it is in fact as big as England in land mass but only has a population of less than 800,000. Guyana is known as the country of Six People- Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, East Indians, Europeans and Portuguese.
First charted by Spain in 1499, Guyana came under Dutch control by the mid-1700s. The British gained possession of Guyana in 1814. British rule brought large influxes of Africans, East Indians, Chinese and Portuguese. In 1978 Guyana was the scene of the mass suicide and murder of more than 900 American members of a religious cult on orders from their American leader, James Warren("Jim") Jones.
At Kissena Track there have been quite a few Guyanese cyclists over the years. Currently there is myself, Somraj Seepersaud, Khary Ward, Horace Burrows, David Coriea, James Joseph, Randolph Toussaint, Anthony Newton & Derick Davis.
In Guyana we don't have a velodrome therefore fixed gear racing takes place on grass tracks, usually on the grounds of a cricket field. Track cyclists would have to go to Trinidad to race on banked velodromes. Above are pictures taken during the 60s of racing on grass tracks and a recent picture of a road race through the tropical jungles.
Pictures were obtained from Guyana Cycling Online.
