By Barrie Alpha

The Salone Cycling Cup Series in Lunsar which was cancelled on Sunday, November 26, has been rescheduled for Sunday December 10, 2023.

Following the successful beginning of the Series in Freetown last Friday on November 24, the Salone Cycling Cup Series was due to continue on Sunday, but because Sierra Leoneans spent Sunday under a nationwide curfew amid disarray in capital, Freetown, the event was indefinitely postponed.

Confirming the new date, the Admin Secretary, Abdul Karim Kamara said they had rescheduled the Lunsar round of the Salone Cycling Cup Series to the 10th December, 2023.

He said mechanism was in place for the Lunsar round with over 50 athletes in Junior and senior categories, both male and female and also officials across the Country with the media had already assembled in Lunsar for the event under the auspices of the association.

“We have postponed the Lunsar’s round of the Salone Cup Series to the next two week, Sunday 10th December, if all goes well because we are trying raise fund for the event or listen to the Government to fund us to continue with the Cup Series because we have spent all the available resources to organise the Lunsar round and it happened that this problem arises and there is no way unless we ended up to canceling the event after all mechanism were in place to commence the event,” Kamara stated.

However, the opening event which was held in Freetown, at Gigibonta Ice Cream Lumley saw the Minister of Sports initiating the race.

In her statement, she expressed gratitude to the Sierra Leone National Cycling Association for organising the race, emphasising its positive impact on youth engagement and employment through healthy recreational activities.

She highlighted the importance of non-violence and how sports contribute to socialisation and physical well-being.

The Minister commended the sponsors for their commitment in supporting the athletes to become champions, not only Sierra Leone but on the international stage.

She praised the organisers for the well-structured technical aspects of the competition.

Expressing government support, the minister acknowledged the effort of the sponsors such as Tacugama in assisting and promoting the sports across the districts, encouraging other sporting disciplines to emulate the National Cycling Association’s proactive approach and organise local activities fostering growth and development within the sporting community.

In his part, Bala Amara Sekaran, the Programme Director for Tacugama Chipanzee Sanctuary explained that four years ago the Sierra Leone Government declared Chimpanzee as national animal means we they using the brand to see how they can help in society.

“Before it was human helping Chpimapnzee and now is like Chimpanzee helping human so we are also looking at different things through the Chimpanzee and do development and one of the things we see is that provide little sponsorship for sports and it’s also a very good brand to tell a story any time you have a sporting event you have a lot young people coming together so there is a good place to talk about the environment, talk about conservation, talk about our national animal and to see how we can sponsor this event every year,” he assured.

The Trade Marketing Officer for Qcell Sierra Leone- Benson J.F. Bockarie stated that they were always ready to give back to the people this country as their brand implies the pride of Salone.

“Salone Pride means we are Sierra Leoneans by Sierra Leoneans and for Sierra Leoneans so we want to be part of the event. We want to continue to support sporting events. We have been part of football, swimming and today we decided to support cycling as well so that we can raise the awareness about cycling and encourage young people to see cycling as another important sport in Sierra Leone,” he said.