The Cycling Ireland EGM is about what's best for cycling and ensuring the process is as democratic as possible, so make sure your club is there to vote (Photo: Toby Watson at the World Cycling Championships, Limburg 2012)
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The debate about Pat McQuaid continuing for a third term in office as UCI president has raged since we at stickybottle broke the news last year that the Irishman intended to run for a third term and had approached Cycling Ireland about nominating him.
Always a divisive figure, McQuaid has been, and remains, a big and forceful personality who says he has done more to clean up doping in cycling that any of his predecessors. He is also adamant that cycling has been the pioneer sport when it comes to catching the drugs cheats.
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He wants to stay on for a third term in the UCI to continue that work and also to, among other things, further the globalisation of the sport and develop women’s cycling.
His views are set out in a column he has penned for stickybottle and which we have published this evening.
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McQuaid’s detractors believe he is a product of a bygone era in the sport and that removing him from office would be a seminal development in securing for cycling a clean break with the past.
They believe the Irishman has made many mistakes and not taken some steps he could have to tackle the doping issue much earlier and much more firmly.
Much of the debate has come in the shape of claim and counter claim, with social media alive with often angry debate on Pat McQuaid, doping and the UCI.
While it is often difficult to truly gauge how McQuaid is viewed by his home cycling community, an EGM this Saturday on whether Cycling Ireland should nominate him to run for his third term of office will reach a verdict one way or the other.
News reaching us is that many clubs have left it to the last minute to decide how they will vote. We also hear that a large number of clubs are leaving the decision to the one or two club officials due to attend the meeting at the Red Cow Inn, Dublin, on Saturday.
With so much still undecided, it is well worth reading the following two files.
The Pat McQuaid File has been prepared by a number of Cycling Ireland members who are opposed to McQuaid continuing, want the EGM to vote against his nomination and have set out their arguments in this file.
File for national federations_130513 ENG has been compiled by the UCI and tackles some of the accusations leveled at it relating to the Lance Arsmtrong affair and the problem of droping generally.
Whatever your view on McQuaid we would urge you to ensure your club is present on Saturday to cast its votes.
