Gaborone Cycling Club (GCC) chairperson, Seamus O’Neill, said last week that Batswana have been flocking to join the club in the past year. He said this during the club’s annual general meeting (AGM) held at the Yacht Club. O’Neill also said that GCC will focus more on attracting citizen members this year.
“I am pleased to announce that we continue to attract a growing number of citizen members, and this is a trend that the new committee will concentrate on in the coming year,” he said.
Currently 40 percent of the club’s
members are Batswana. GCC’s membership has also grown, and the club currently has 145 fully paid-up members. O’Neill said that they intend to grow the sport both within Gaborone and in surrounding areas.
To that end, GCC has decided not to raise the joining fees. A single member will still enjoy membership at only P150, while a family pays P300 for a month.
However, O’Neill expressed regret that the road bike had been without a leader for most of the year, and has therefore been rather quiet.
“We are expecting better effort on the road in the coming year. So far, we have had the Wharic Challenge in February, and we are looking forward to a Gaborone Garage sponsored road race in May/June 2010,” he said.
O’Neill also said that development cycling has gone well for most of the year, and the club has put together a development riding program which the committee will review and use in the future.
The section received a considerable boost of P40 000 from the Lady Khama Charitable Trust.
“The GCC has invested a lot of time and money into the development riders section of our club, and we have purchased and refurbished a number of bikes,” said O’Neill.
He also said that the GCC was instrumental in constituting the Botswana Cycling Association (BCA), and had since asked for its re-admission into the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC).
“The club elected a new committee, and Seamus O’Neill is the new Chairman, Grant Buckmaster is Secretary, Peter Sekwale is the Media Liaison Officer, while the treasurer is Ellen Hood.
Martin Chapusa is the head of the development riders section. The additional members are Neo Mapitse, Angus Boxshall-Smith and Harron Angamia. We are now the 34th member of the council,” said Peter Sekwale.
