The Gladiators Cycling Club (GCC), on Saturday, August 12, organised a workshop for the media ahead of the annual cycling competition, Osagyefo Criterium.

The 2023 edition of Osagyefo Criterium is set for September 21, in honour of Ghana's former President, Kwame Nkrumah. This year's edition will also be the third after successful organisations in 2021 and 2022.

The workshop was to provide training for journalists on the cycling sport and brief them about plans for Osagyefo Criterium 2023. It was also an opportunity to address the concerns of the low patronage of the sport.

Speaking following the programme, Kuki Vanderpuyje, a member of the Gladiators Cycling Club said: "We thought it was important to promote cycling as a professional sport more than what is already being done.

"We are having an event coming up, Osagyefo Criterium, which we want to promote and thought it was good to invite the media to help up sensitize the public about what cycling is, the opportunities, the challenges, about the sport and the different types involved."

Osagyefo Criterium is an event organised by the Gladiators Cycling Club, a cycling institution that has been in existence since January 2018 and is under the Ghana Cycling Federation.

The Criterium is one of many initiatives of the club which include the formation of a pro team that has birthed national team cyclists, Ghana by Bike, Divas Cycling and the Lamisi project.

Quizzed on what Gladiators Cycling Club stands for, Vanderpuyje added, "We are a club made up of different people. Our aim is to promote a healthy lifestyle and to promote opportunities to help.

"The world of media and we as Gladiators need to get together more. We need to exchange ideas more otherwise everybody just does things in their own little bubble and we don't even know how to promote these things.

"For me, it's about creating job opportunities. It's important that we always work together."

This year's Osagyefo Criterium will happen at the Accra Sports Stadium Road with the circuit set at 129.5km.

In the male category, the winner will take home GHS 15,000, while the second also wins GHS 7,000, and the third GHS 5,000. The female category will also see the first position claim a GHS 10,000 cash prize while the second and third take home GHS 5,000 and GHS 3,000 respectively.

GHS 250.00 has been announced as the registration fee per entrant.