Tche Irene Morikang
7 April 2008
opinion
The 6th International Cycling Tour of Cameroon has come and gone with its organisational flaws, as well as excitements.
That the race could take place, in the first place, is commendable. It demonstrated the option of the government, which still bears the financial brunt of the organisation, to promote all sports disciplines. Also praiseworthy is the fact that the competition could bring together some 73 cyclists from African and European countries. Joseph Sanda crowned it all yesterday with three distinctions. He emerged the overall best of the competition, the best African and the best youth.
The bright performance of Cameroonian cyclists is however the silver lining that covered the dark cloud of the race. This year's cycling tour of Cameroon will certainly go down the annals of history as being one of the worst in terms of organisation. The litany of difficulties is long - non respect of kick off time, poor lodging of athletes, bad feeding conditions, vehicles running out of fuel or braking down, cancellation of stages, forgetting bicycles when boarding plane in Ngaoundere for Koutaba, abandoning German team in Maroua...
It boils down to one thing - lack of professionalism. The organisation crew needs competent people, not half-baked acquaintances who fill the caravan and shy away from work. True, we can blame the late disbursement of money for the postponement of the start of the competition. And thereafter? Why, for example, could hotel reservations not be made before the arrival of the athletes? Why must vehicles go for fuel in the morning rather than at night? Why should there be delays in serving food when the time of the arrival of the race is almost certain?
As the commissioner of the International Cycling Union, Jean Michel Voets, rightly puts it, we failed in the organisation again. And woefully this time! According to him, all the suggestions he made after the last race were not taken into consideration. Should we therefore hope for a better tomorrow? Difficult to say if we have to go by the past experiences. Suggestions have been made on five occasions (at the end of each tour since the first edition), yet very little has changed.
What is certain is that Cameroon has all what it takes to make the International Cycling Tour of Cameroon a veritable sports rendez-vous in Africa. The landscape is diverse, the relief fascinating, the vegetation rich and what about the variation of climate from one region of the country to another? Yet, we cannot succeed to organise our tour. Are we doomed? Is it a fatality?
Certainly not. All we need is good organisation. It is difficult to imagine that time cuts us short in the preparation of an event whose date is known at least a year in advance; that money cannot be disbursed on time; that we make the same mistakes year in year out. The time to start preparing for the 7th International Cycling Tour of Cameroon is now. Unless we want to make the world to believe that we are caught in a permanent state of inertia!
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