Farrier, Williams in TTCF presidential showdown

Williams, who held two terms as president between 2010 and 2014, will challenge the incumbent Farrier who has been the president since 2014. This time around the winner will be in charge of cycling for the next four years.

Yesterday both Williams and Farrier were upbeat ahead of today’s elections. Farrier stated, “based on what I have been told by my people on the ground they are very pleased with the work that has been done by me and my administration and they will be very willing to continue working with us for the next four years to continue developing the sport of cycling.” Williams simply said, “Yes (I am confident), you can’t go in negatively.” Williams had many accomplishments when she was at the helm previously. Williams said she made the TT CF more financially stable explaining that when she came into power the Federation was in financial debt.

The former president said construction of the National Cycling Centre began under her leadership and they were recognised as a top federation.

Williams stated, “I was in the initial discussions with the development of the new cycling velodrome, I would have been there when the whole construction started. In my period we would have won two years straight (2012, 2013) the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award for best administration.” Farrier proclaimed that the TT CF, under his leadership, has achieved a lot. “(We have had) numerous achievements. In terms of racing we had the Easter Grand Prix being UCI (International Cycling Union) approved both in 2015 and 2016. We had National Championships UCI approved, we had the first ever Junior Pan American Track Championships in the English speaking Eastern Caribbean held here.” Farrier added that the TT CF constitution was revised and approved, the federation has audited financial statements up to September 30 2016 and many courses were held over the last two years to help educate members of the local cycling fraternity.

Looking ahead both Farrier and Williams have plans to improve the running of cycling in TT . Farrier and his team wants to revise their strategic plan and plan to partner with the University of Trinidad and Tobago to develop the 18-21 age group. Farrier added he wants to improve communication within the TT CF.

Williams says their are core areas she wants to look at. Among them are increasing participation among women in cycling, developing the sport at the grassroot level and focusing on income generation and marketing.

The other positions that will be contested today are vice president of racing, treasurer, assistant racing secretary and assistant general secretary.