A Cyclist from way back when

Giving a small history of cycling from 1928

BY KEISHA MILLIGAN

Belize City, Thurs. Sept. 24, 2009

Melford Ramsey

Melford Ramsey, 91, who resides at #8 Yorke Street, rode in the first Cross Country race that was ever held in the country of Belize. Today, his youthful agility is still on display as he goes almost every day to the Barracks to take a swim in the Caribbean Sea. He gave the BELIZE TIMES a small history of the cycling world.

The races were not ridden in the one day tour as it is done now. They used to start riding on Holy Thursday and would complete the race on Easter Sunday. At that time there was competition between the North side boys and the South side boys. Rivalry in sports, but at the end of the day, there was always love for each other. After every race they would rush for the barracks and take a swim.

Other pioneers that rode back in his days are Anselm Waight, Robert Ferguson, Cyril Simmons, Elston Kerr, Leopold Neal, Altreith Smith, Aston Gill, Monrad Metzkin, Norris Wade, Donald Lightburn, Wilfred Domingo and Lincoln Blades.

In 1928 there was an expedition from Belize to Cayo. In that race Elston Kerr came 1^st. The Cross Country was started the following year, in 1929 and Kerr again took that race. Norris Wade rode past everyone in 1930 and shone as the winner, while Kerr settled for second place. In 1931 Donald Lightburn won the race and Kerr died that same year.

When they would get into Belize City, they would do ten laps around a track that was located where the BTL Park now is. The grandstand was located across from where the Princess Hotel is today.

The race route was normally from Cayo to Belize, but in 1937 they rode a race to Corozal. In 1940, he was required to leave the B class of cyclists, said Ramsey and reluctantly, he rode the race. He was very small - one of the lightest men in the league, but he loved riding. That year he fell down in the 3rd lap. By the time he got another bike everyone was way ahead of him, but he was not going to give up. He plunged on and came in 1^st for that race. His gift, he recalls, was not as lavish as they are now, but he was given a big ice cream tub for coming in first.

Bicycles were made much stronger then. In fact, some of the youths today cannot even patch bikes the way they used to. They use to splice and fix it. You would have to catch a ferry to cross in Burrell Boom to finish your race. The roads were much rougher and some areas were very densely populated. They even had to ride through people’s lands to get to where they were going.

Back then the lottery was called “Panama Lottery”. There was a race that they were to ride from Corozal to Belize, but his friend Lincoln ‘Skippy’ Tucker always played 7580. He went out early and got his number, but only played a small piece because he had no money. That was the same day when the number played. Skippy won $1,000. The race was even more fun to ride that day.

Many years after, in 1948, it was decided that the race could be ridden in one day. That was decided by Anselm Waight and another group of riders.

The first one day race took 13-14 hours and only five men came back, along with himself. They were Altreith Smith, Alvin Joseph, David Graham and Lascelle Stanford.

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