Alem Mumuni Wins Medal At World Race

By Theodore M.K. Viwotor

Africa’s C2 paracycling champion, Alem Mumuni has won a bronze medal for Ghana at the World Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal race in Canada, with a very impressive performance. He won the bronze in the C2 category and placed 3rd in the combined C1, C2 and C3 categories at the same competition. In all there were 4,000 athletes from across the globe.

In the time trials he placed 3rd in the C2 category and 8th in the combined C1, C2, and C3, C4 and C5 categories. Earlier on in another race in Greenville, USA, Alem Mumuni was ranked 5th in the world while his colleague, Ernest Ayisi placed 8th to register Ghana’s name on the world map. In the USA time trial, he was 6th and Ayisi followed him at 7th position. The competitions were aimed at building points for qualification to the Paralympic Games in Brazil in 2016.

With these performances, Alem is awaiting confirmation of his 2013 world ranking, which is likely to be 2nd or 3rd. Speaking from his base in Canada, Alem expressed gratitude to Gerald Arhin, the entire Ghanaian Consulate, Nana King Kwarteng, the President of the Ghanaian community in Montreal, Mama Africa, Mr. Gerald Arhin, Nana Boateng who hosted and fed them throughout their stay.

In the USA they had support from his friend Michael Houton Linahan who paid for their bus ticket from USA to Canada, Josh Pryor who also paid for their feeding and hotel bills for their stay in Grenville the games village. He was grateful to Union Oil, Discovery, Pippa’s Health Center and Bishop Adjah Coffie, as well as the Ghana Cycling Federation for the diverse support. The journey to this historic feat was characterized by financial and logistical challenges that saw the two athletes securing an air ticket at the last minute to travel to the USA.

During the journey, their bicycles got broken and had to be repaired at their own expense. They made the journey from the USA to Canada by road, spending 31 hours instead of the 1 hour journey by air. They had to depend on some philanthropists to survive at some points in time.