7 News Belize

Choto Gets the Big Payback
posted (April 12, 2012)
Last night, we told you about Giovanni Choto's historic cross country ride where he not only took home the coveted garland and the first prize; he also won a record 78 of 101 station prizes.

And today, the prizes kept coming. The Ministry of Sports handed over the additional $5,000 dollar cheque which was promised as a bonus to any Belizean who won the race.

He also received a $6,000 cheque from United Insurance, reserved as well for a Belizean who came first.

So, that's a total in sixteen thousand dollars - just for finishing first! Add to that another nine - thousand - plus dollars in cash and gift certificates from station prizes and you've got the richest pot for any sporting event in Belize: twenty five thousand dollars!

Now, all this fortune, fame and acclaim has been heaped on a very unassuming 23 year old.

After the ceremony, we asked him about what he plans to do with his other station prizes, and about the sudden over-night celebrity status he has gained.

Here's what he told us:

Daniel Ortiz
"We know that you took majority of the station prizes, and there are some quite odd prizes, what would you be doing with your carrot cake and your cow?"

Giovanni Choto - 2012 Cross Country Winner
"I'm not sure, I have to eat it! It should be nice so I will enjoy it."

Jeovannie Brackett- Plus T.V.
"How do you feel today? I mean, it's another prize you're collecting, how do you feel right now?"

Giovanni Choto - 2012 Cross Country Winner
"I feel happy about it, I really feel good that we won the race and my team and I worked very hard for it, and I thank God for it."

Daniel Ortiz
"Now that the fan fair is on, for you being the representative of Belizean hope winning the Garland this year, has the attention you have been getting overwhelming? how do you feel with this sudden group of people wanting to speak with you and congratulating you and you being such a local star? How has that been for you?"

Giovanni Choto
"I feel different because I'm not really use to it, it's a lot of people that gets to know you and they want to take picture with you, I'm not used to those things."

Daniel Ortiz
"This year's Cross Country Incentive was rather large. Now that the pressure has dissipated a bit because a Belizean has won, will there be any other type of incentive next year that you can commit to as the Minister of sports?"

Hon. Herman Longsworth , Minister of Sports
"First of all let me say that I don't feel that the incentive was large at all! Maybe if you put it into the picture of the resources that the ministry has it might have looked large, but if you look at other countries and you look at the resources available to develop their athletes, what we gave for Cross Country is miniscule, we don't have the resources to do what these other countries do and so we did the best we could."

"I believe we need to ensure that we develop the private sector participation in order that the incentive can be even bigger than it was to encourage these youths to do the right thing to get in and put in the work to discipline themselves etc. Having said that the incentive that we provided this year will become an annual incentive, every year if a Belizean wins, they will get that additional prize."

"We have to have a vision; we have to know where we want to go; we can't just be shooting hopes and riding bikes. The ministry has the responsibility to lead. We should determine the direction that we want sports to go in this country, but there is not yet that kind of a plan."

"I believe in structured movement. That's the only way you can measure your achievements, if you have something to measure against. So I intend to ensure that a proper five-year strategy is put in place for sports in Belize."

The Belize Cycling Association also received a $5,000 cheque from Belize Telemedia Limited towards the expenses incurred organizing the race.


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