THE TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO sporting fraternity is mourning the loss of two sportsmen in separate accidents over the weekend.
Former national cycling champion Clinton Grant died yesterday after being knocked down on the Foreshore, Audrey Jeffers Highway, while former national Under-19 cricketer Tevin Robertson who died in a car accident on Friday night in south Trinidad.
The cycling community reacted with shock and anger.
“It was a shock and a real blow to the fraternity right about now. We are still trying to come to terms with what happened and we really want to send condolences to his family,” Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TTCF) president Rowena Williams told the Trinidad Express.
When contacted by phone, Williams was at the time involved in an executive meeting of the TTCF and said her Federation would stage a protest ride, using the Southern Games Fun and Health ride from Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre, tomorrow, as a platform to promote cycling safety on the nation’s roads.
Former top cyclist Gene “Geronimo” Samuel said it was “real sad and unbelievable, the lawlessness of the country”.
“Every day we have altercations with drivers on the highway and I was training this morning and nearly went on the foreshore and my mind just told me not to,” Samuel said as he expressed his anger at what happens on the shoulders at highways nationwide.
He said insurance companies should be able to revoke drivers’ licences when they discover that a driver used the shoulder improperly or to overtake.
“The cycling fraternity is not going to sit down on this…Drivers don’t seem to know that we (cyclists) are entitled to take up a lane. We are entitled to ride two abreast. It is the law and they treat us as though we should not be there,” Samuel said, adding that the TTCF is going to take some recommendations to amend the law to the Cabinet. He did not identify the law or specify the proposed amendments.
Meanwhile, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board remembered Robertson as a “disciplined and talented young man who had a bright future in the game”.
Via a press release, president Azim Bassarath said it was a tragedy that the promising young left-arm fast bowler was cut down just when he was on the cusp of national recognition with the “Red Force.”
Robertson represented T&T as a member of the Under-19 team at the regional tournament in Barbados last year and at the time of his passing, was on the T&T squad in training for the four-day tournament currently taking place.
Bassarath said he had the opportunity to observe the Princes Town youngster and like others, he was just as impressed, as Roberts graduated through the TTCB age group programmes and was recognised as a future senior team player. (Express/SAT)
