Stars of yesteryear... Bruce Comacho
Compiled by Michael Da Silva
Stabroek News
July 16, 2002
Bruce Comacho was born in Georgetown and resided in Bourda, a stone's throw away from the St. Greorge's Cathedral, with his parents, an older brother and two sisters.
Bruce who currently resides in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, with his wife, Theresa and their three sons, Jason, Ryan and Matthew, like all youngsters growing up in Georgetown at that time, was encouraged to participate in a variety of sporting activities by his parents.
According to an article appearing in a magazine in Canada, from a very young age he (Bruce) became involved in many sports, among them were football, cricket, table tennis and cycling, but from his initial experiences with cycling, he knew that it would become his passion.
Cycling ultimately became his first love, and together with his dedication and determination, he trained daily towards the development of his skills and abilities in becoming a successful cyclist.
He got his first racing cycle in 1965 and with the encouragement of the late Barry Massey, a prominent cycle racing promoter and enthusiast of the day, became actively involved in competitive cycling.
By March of 1968, just less than three years after first entering the sport, Bruce made his mark on the sport by ascending the ladder of leadership, as Guyana's top long distance cyclist.
In competitions he demonstrated his enduring stamina and unyielding tenacity in the distance events.
He made winning these long and tortuous races seem effortless and earned the respect of friend and foe alike.
During his successful racing campaign, Bruce won Guyana's inaugural Tour of Guyana stage race from Springlands to Georgetown, which was held in December of 1967 and which has been replaced with the National Sports Commission's Three Stage race, which covers a distance of 180.2 miles and has been organised by cycle coach, Hassan Mohammed, for the past 20 years.
From 1968 onwards, Bruce became a permanent fixture on Guyana's national cycling team and was called upon to represent the country on a permanent basis for the next three years, until the decision was made to immigrate with his family to Canada.
As a national team member, Bruce toured the West Indies, Venezuela and Suriname. He raced against the best track cyclists in the world at the time and won a gold against Luigi Roncaglia, the World's number one 4000-metre individual time trialist at the 1968 Texaco Southern Games in San Fernando, Trinidad.
In 1968 (also) he placed second in an international class 75-mile road race in Suriname.
His biggest year however, was 1969 when he represented Guyana in Venezuela and Trinidad, winning one gold and two silver medals. He rode successfully against the best international class cyclists from around the world including Daniel Morelon of France, seven-time world match sprint champion, Dirk Baert of Belgium, world 4000-metre individual time trial champion and Roger Gibbon of Trinidad, world ranked match sprinter.
Not always pleasant, one event that has remained with Bruce to this day, is his memory of his collision at the conclusion of a grand finale with an over anxious photographer in February of 1969. Bruce was charging head down on an inside line to a certain victory, but altogether, a thrilling finish of a 25,000-metre event, a photographer, anxious to get the best photograph of the finish, encroached in the path of the oncoming cyclists, and because of the crowd behind him, could not remove himself from the path of the fast approaching cyclists.
Bruce subsequently plowed face first into the photographer and his camera. His injuries resulted in permanent facial lacerations and serves as a reminder that there are sometimes premium prices to pay for the game that you love.
Today, Bruce is not involved in the sport, however, he continues to utilise the philosophies, structure and discipline that cycling taught him in his involvement in the sport of minor baseball which he has been coaching for the past couple of years.
His motto is "You have to think that you are the best to be the best".