The cycling fraternity has reacted with unbelief and shock to the sudden untimely passing of former national cyclist, Jude Bentley, who died in an accident Saturday morning whilst training.
Stabroek Sport reached out to a number of cyclists and administrators on his passing.
Following are the comments.
Hassan Mohamed
(National cycling coach, Carlton Wheelers President)
“I really can’t tell you, the loss is so great I can’t believe up to now. I’m shaken up to know since I got the message Saturday morning in the park. What I observed with Jude is, if you know him before, he wasn’t an easy guy to get along with but he had changed tremendously and took up family life and business seriously and was always willing to help cyclists, young or old. if you go into his store and you short of money he would say `take it, go along’. He was so pleasant, unfortunately or fortunately he died with the jersey of the club he rode for and I’m the president of that club, Carlton Wheelers. Myself and him had a lot of dialogue and I was very happy to hear him say `Mr. Hassan.’ All and all I am going to miss him.”
Malcolm Soonaram
(Guyana Cycling Federation Racing Secretary, Carlton Wheelers Vice-President)
“Jude and I have been in cycling for years. We have had many confrontations with rules and regulations. He was always that kind of individual but all and all, for a person who was always around Jude for a while, at his shop, you saw the true nature of the person. He would see children come into the shop looking at a bicycle and then break off conversation and ask them `what you doing’ at the shop and ask if he got money or could afford it.When the boy said `no’ he would say well `go to school’ but later, if he continued staring Jude would tell one of the guys take it down and give him and send him away. Many cyclists I’ve seen go to the shop needing a chain, tube, tyres, water bottles or whatever. He would often tell them they need to find a job but in the end he still gave them. He meant well and good for the sport. He was a mentor to a lot of the cyclists so we will miss him, he was a rare person.”
Alex Mendes
(Carlton Wheelers cyclist)
“The loss is great, you know. It hit close to home because just to realize you’re dressing, putting on your clothes, bottle in your bike to go out Four `O’ Clock in the morning and 10 minutes after you could die. You know so it really hit close to everyone that does put on a uniform to go do cycling, so it is really hard and is still hard to put on your clothes and thinking about stuff like that. But sports still has to go on in his and others’ legacy. It will be a great loss, he was a special person. He did a lot for a lot of young cyclists, mountain bikes and others and then you know he was on his way back and it would have been a boost for cycling if the unfortunate situation didn’t happen because he attracts a lot of people and it would have been a better year but such is life.”
Paul Choo-Wee-Nam
(Guyana Cycling Federation Vice-President, Team Alanis)
“It is a very shocking thing to know what happened. I knew Jude for a very long time even before he started to ride bicycle as a youngster and to my knowledge I tell you the honest truth, I didn’t know Jude started back training until the morning when I heard he was knock down you know what I mean. I was doubting it because I know he wasn’t riding so a lot of people started confirming it and I took a ride to his bike shop and I saw the crowd gathered and crying and stuff. It is a very hard thing to digest that you know a cyclist died and was Jude. People know he was a person a little loud mouthed and stuff but he is very excited and pushed the others to beat him and he comes about and it is very hard to lose him. He was a very good person, supports the little kids, the BMX riders, he had them riding on a Sunday, about 60 people and it is a very bad loss and my condolences goes out to his family.”
Paul Denobrega
(Team Evolution cyclist)
“It is a shock for the whole cycling fraternity. I mean, I was shocked when I got the call and was preparing to race and it just changed my mind about racing for the whole weekend and it is hard to get back on the road right about now. Even driving is not safe out there, I mean everyone know Jude, they talking about stuff about gear and equipment and reflector lights and everyone know Jude if you don’t have lights, he would tell you come at the shop and collect one free and I think we need to look into the safety of cyclists on the whole. It is not safe, the buses, taxi drivers, public transportation and trucks. With Jude he would pick a limb to jump on and every season he would choose someone to cause a problem just to boost you up. We were good friends. I would go to the shop and we would have conversations on cycling and stuff, we had ups and downs during races but that was it, he was a really good person and it hurts.”
Michael Anthony
(Foundation cyclist)
“Jude is Jude, you know he was a cheerful guy always spoke what was on his mind and tell you what it is. He don’t hold back anything and don’t sugar coat anything. That was the type of individual he was. You know he always had a lot of influential things to tell you, always willing to share his knowledge since riding for a lot of years. He helped me out a lot with training and talking about his career and life and to be honest getting a call and waking up to the bad news was not something that you could cope with. To be honest Saturday I don’t know how I could have raced because just knowing one of us had fallen it is emotional and you don’t know how to put your day back together especially training. Very good guy man and sad to hear he passed out like that and knowing he planned to make a comeback as well, it’s just very emotional.”
