We are three days away from the Krem New Year’s Day Cycling Classic. It is the second biggest race on the cycling calendar, but tonight the cycling community is in disarray. Four of Belize’s best cyclists have been banned from participating, the Cycling Association President is being sued, and one major team has threatened to throw in the towel. Of course, conflict in cycling is nothing new - but it has reached a new level because of a dispute about the banned substance, EPO – which has been linked to blood doping in other countries. And now EPO charges have emerged in Belize, and it’s led to a major power struggle. Cycling Association President Gerald Garbutt is in one corner and Santino Castillo is in the other. Garbutt says it isn’t personal but Castillo says it is. Keith Swift has the facts to let you decide.

Santino Castillo, Manager – Santino Cycling Team
“This day will live in infamy where cycling is concerned in Belize.”

That day was yesterday when Cycling Association President Gerald Garbutt suspended four of cycling’s biggest stars: Marlon Castillo, Mateo Cruz, Giovanni Leslie, and Gregory Lovell. Their suspension is outlined in this letter from President Garbutt to owner of Team Santino - Santino Castillo. The cyclists were ordered to undergo a drug test by the Cycling Association after one of the members of the team was linked to EPO – a substance banned by the International Cycling Federation. Garbutt says the four riders never showed for the test and he says that left him with no other choice but to suspend them.

Gerald Garbutt, President – Cycling Association
“The reason why these riders were suspended is because after giving their manager and owner the information to go and take the blood test at universal – they refused or they didn’t go to the doctor that the association requested.”

Santino Castillo,
“We want to take the test Keith. We want to take the test.”

Santino Castillo is the Manager of Team Santino. He didn’t make any of the cyclists available to talk to us but he has appealed the decision. He says his riders haven’t taken the test because proper procedures aren’t in place.

Santino Castillo,
“They just want to go and draw out blood and I don’t know who they will give it to, Mr. Garbutt, Mr. Cattouse, to send it where. No this thing has to be done properly. If they want to do it properly we want an independent person of the media to be there, Channel 5 and Channel 7, both television stations, let them draw and let there be the test. And that doesn’t even have to be because by UCI it doesn’t have to be. But once the test kit and al the right protocols under UCI, let them test them now. It’s not a problem, it’s not a problem. But just to ho and test and take out blood, put it in little vials, my friend we are looking for trouble because indeed it can be contaminated and even if it is negative, it can come back positive.”

Keith Swift,
So you can say categorically that yourself or none of the members on your team, as far as you know, have not used any performance enhancing drug?

Santino Castillo,
“Categorically. I state my entire companies, all of my companies, on that. Nothing has ever been done through me. As you said, if they did it on their own, I don’t know. If I was giving them drugs they would all know. A doctor would come out of the woodwork and say, ‘yes I administered it.’ Nothing my friend, nothing. This is a witch hunt – plain and simple.”

Keith Swift,
You think this is personal?

Santino Castillo,
“Oh yes, this is definitely personal.”

Garbutt says it isn’t. He has banned Mateo Cruz for 2 years while Marlon Castillo, Gregory Lovell, and Giovanni Leslie will be banned for one year. It is prickly situation - especially since Garbutt stressed that he really he has no reason to believe any of the four riders have used performance enhancing drugs.

Gerald Garbutt,
“Their slip down is not to show up for this drug test which is strong enough under the UCI for me to suspend them and I had a latitude to suspend them each one of them for one to four years. That is the rule in the UCIO. I could not go with six months. Based on their age group and their future for cycling I gave them the minimum of one year. I gave Mateo Cruz because all the controversy surrounds him and he is almost on his way out of cycling. These guys they got a lot more future ahead of them. At least Greggy and Marlon, I know very well, and Froggie, I admire them – I like to see them how they perform but I got to do what I got to do.”

Santino remains hopeful of a compromise that will ensure that the four riders will race on New Year’s Day.

Santino Castillo,
“One of two things can happen, one of only two things. One is that they will uplift the suspension and we will be able to ride after the appeal or allow us to ride pending the appeal or the appeal will be upheld and we will be disqualified. If that happens, that is the end of the Santino’s Cycling because those four riders are the core of my team and it will be unfair to them, in solidarity with them I would just throw in the towel.”

But even if the suspension is stayed or lifted - Santino concedes that damage has been done. That is especially for Marlon Castillo.

Santino Castillo,
“Their careers are virtually done. No Cycling President in the history of this country has done anything like this and to those boys, they are kids, especially the youngsters – totally totally unfair. It will taint them for life, it will taint them for life and after one year they would have lost all the zip, the energy, the gusto – they will never be the same. They will never be the same. The only way this could go positive is if they uplift the suspension and they are permitted to ride and even so, even so Team Santino’s and the riders will never be the same again. A shadow has been cast that is irreversible and irreparable.”

Keith Swift,
You like them but you also destroyed their reputation, their career basically because there will always be this cloud hanging over them, don’t you think?

Gerald Garbutt,
“Well you are saying that. I am not saying that I destroyed where that is concerned.”

Keith Swift,
Mr. Santino is saying that.

Gerald Garbutt,
“Well that’s what he is saying. If he had just abide by the rules and regulations, we wouldn’t have to go through this kind of conversation and what you up and down with each other.”

Castillo has appealed and asked the Association’s Protest Board to “stay its decision” so that the riders can participate in the New Year’s Day Cycling Classic. That seems unlikely. But more bad news for the team is that the Association has ordered them to return all the prizes won in the “Pine Classic” which was held on December 15th. Team Santino swept that race with Marlon Castillo finishing first, Greg Lovell second, and Mateo Cruz third.

And aside from all this – Santino Castillo says he is going ahead with a lawsuit against Garbutt for implying that the team used performance enhancing drugs. Garbutt later apologized. We should note that Marlon Castillo – who is only 20 – won the his first Krem Classic in 2004 when he was only 16. He placed second in 2006 and 2007.