To put someone’s life and achievements in writing is seldom an easy task, especially if they are multitalented and have diverse pursuits. Many persons have excelled in just one area, but some have stood out in so many fields that placing their accomplishments in proper perspective takes the assignment to another level. This week’s ‘Special Person’ presents such a challenge.
He is a Senior Counsel, veteran horse racing magnate, community leader, former national cycling champion and sports enthusiast. In short, today’s featured individual has unquestionably had a long and distinguished career.
The second of seven children and the older of two boys, Marcel Christopher Crawford was born on October 13, 1937, at Salton Village (Little Alness) on the Corentyne, to Ryan Crawford, a Scotsman, and Sarah Millicent Harrington. He currently resides at Alness, one village away from his birthplace.
Marcel Crawford is a household name in Berbice, Guyana and the wider Caribbean. His success has come with hard work and sacrifice. A prominent lawyer and the only Senior Counsel in the Ancient County, in itself is an extraordinary achievement. Couple that with being a former national cycling champion and living a life as a horse racing magnate and pace setter, and you get the picture.
He was married to the late Lillian Crawford nee Sooklall, a union which bore them two sons – Marcel Jr., resides in the United States, while Ryan is also a lawyer and straddles between Guyana and the United States, where he practices. He also ably assists his Dad with the horse racing duties.
Marcel Crawford was a high flyer at school. He first attended St Marks Anglican School in Alness, before going on to the Rose Hall Scots and Corentyne High. He began his work career as a teacher at the Kildonan Scots School on the Corentyne. Crawford is particularly proud of his days at Rose Hall Scots, a school which produced an Executive President (the late Dr Cheddi Jagan), two senior counsel, in himself and Clarence Hughes, and a Chancellor of the Judiciary, Madam Justice Desiree Bernard.
SUCCESS, DOMINANCE AND DISAPPOINTMENT
His cycling career, though fairly short, was successful and dominant. He started riding whilst still at secondary school. His father was a butcher and he had to ride long distances to help sell the beef, as much as 40 miles per day. Sometimes his journey would take him as far as No 63 Village on the upper Corentyne.
He left high school in 1956 and it was that year that he “took the game seriously”. With encouragement from his older cousins Joseph
Tyndall and Roland Crawford, he continued his riding quest with much success.
“My colleagues and I would take regular rides up and down the Corentyne Highway. We would ride from Alness to Skeldon and back, and the following week we would go in the opposite direction from Alness to Sandvort, West Canje. I would also train by lifting donkey carts and wheels, among other exercises.”
He loved cycling; especially the road races, and insists he was not afraid of any cyclist in his era. “There were some great cyclists back in the day, but I always backed myself to hold my own in any circumstance. Conditions were often tricky. In those days the road was brick and you had to skillfully maneuver on it. I grew from strength to strength. Within a year or two…at age 20, I was right up there with the best. I preferred the road and longer distances. Quite honestly, the roads were safer to race on.”
His first participation in the Sandbach Parker 50-mile road race on the undulating hills of Timehri, in 1958, saw the young Crawford winning the event, a feat which he repeated the following year.
And it was in 1958 also that Crawford placed second to British cyclist Eric Thompson in an international road race from Blairmont, West Bank of Berbice to the Seawall Band Stand in Georgetown. The following year he placed behind Thompson and ‘Boogie’ De Freitas.
That same year he was crowned national ‘B’ class champion. He was dominant on the track at the August Olympiad in which he won five of seven races, placed second in one and did not finish in the other, having fallen.
In 1959, he dominated and won the Cheddi Jagan 50-miler from Skeldon to Stanleytown in New Amsterdam. Crawford remembers that race very well, as he nearly struck down Janet Jagan (who would later become the country’s first female president) at the finishing line. He stated that he always wanted to apologise to her for that incident, but was unable to do so.
After his sterling performance, he was part of a contingent that represented Guyana in 1959 in Tobago. His exploits brought him a third place. Among the top cyclists in his time were the likes of George ‘Boy Blue’ Cumberbatch, Walter Liddell, ‘Boogie’ De Freitas, Thomas Paddy, ‘Toto’ Johnson, Vincent Lewis, Billy Figueira, Wilfred Mangal, Barry Massay, Len Robinson, Dennis Phillips and ‘Buckman’ Nicholson.
It was heart rending and disappointing for young Marcel. The frustration prompted him to set sail to England, in August 1960, to further his educational career. He initially wanted to pursue medicine and enrolled at Westminister College in London. He recalled being intensely homesick.
Marcel later met long time pal and former Chancellor of the Judiciary Cecil Kennard who was studying in England at the time. Kennard encouraged him to stay on and switch to Law. He took the timely advice, and the rest as they say, is history.
In April 11 1961 he enrolled to read Law at the famous Lincoln Inn in London. On June 24 1964 he was admitted to the bar in England. In the same year he returned to the Caribbean to practice, stopping first in Trinidad, and then moving back to his homeland.
During his stay in England, he journeyed to Scotland in search of his relatives. He found some of them in Edinburgh.
Mr. Crawford has performed duties as State Counsel and also served as Police Legal Advisor.
He worked among many legal luminaries including Rex Mc Kay, Clarence Hughes, Keith Massiah, Donald Trotman, Charles Ramson, Doodnauth Singh and Winston Pompey. He has so far carved out an outstanding pathway in the courts and performed in many memorable and outstanding matters. A listing of his outstanding performances will full a few pages.
He was made a Senior Counsel in 1991.
At present he is the only senior Counsel in Berbice. Being one of four at one time – the others being Stanley Hardyal, Bhairo Prashad and Milton Persaud. His law practice still takes him to most of the courts.
HORSE RACING IN THE BLOOD
And lest we forget, there was the horse racing. Mr. Crawford has been associated with the ‘Sport of Kings’ for as long as he can remember. He was born into it. In fact his grandfather Christopher Crawford, a Scotsman, started racing since 1929, while his father ‘took up the reins’ in 1934 and he joined in 1948 at the age of 12.
Marcel Crawford is something of an institution in local horse racing having been around for such a long time and acquired such vast knowledge. He knows the game inside out, having participated in or viewed it around the globe. Presently he is the Legal Advisor to the Guyana Horse Racing Authority (GHRA).
Mr. Crawford stated that in the early days there were few race tracks around, The Demerara Turf Club later known as D’Urban Park, the Corentyne Race Club now Port Mourant, and the Springlands Turf Club.
Looking back he stated that racing used to be done only at D’Urban Park in Georgetown.
“In those days, horses used to walk from Skeldon to New Amsterdam… about 50 miles,where they would be placed on the ferry and then be transported from Rosignol to D’Urban Park.”
He recalled preparing the horses with his team and patiently waiting for the group coming from Upper Corentyne. They would then walk all the way to the New Amsterdam Stelling. His father would follow on his donkey cart. When they reached to New Amsterdam he would be tasked with the responsibility of returning with the donkey cart to their home at Salton, Corentyne, approximately 40 miles away.
Horse racing is in his blood, and this is precisely the reason that the veteran has expressed his dissatisfaction with “what passes as horse racing nowadays”.
“Things are essentially done in a haphazard way. There is abundant indiscipline and too much greed. Persons do not have any concerns for the horses; they are only interested in making a profit. There is also too much doping (of horses) and illegal betting. I can’t imagine doping a horse. I have never done it and will never do it!”
He mentioned that he was trained by his father, has owned over 35 horses, and has trained hundreds of others.
“Back then, horses would race for many years and not break down. These days the horses run for a year or two and that’s it. Horses such as Pinky, Joshua and Battle Chant won many races in Trinidad and Guyana. Battle Chant lived for 29 years and won 12 races in Trinidad and 16 in Guyana. The horses were better bred, stronger and faster. The horses’ blood and saliva samples were taken and tested for any signs of doping. Persons should be charged for doping the animals, because it’s cruelty.”
“I recall the days when jockeys and horses used to come from Venezuela, and as far as England, to compete in races here. Also in those days, racing used to be administered by persons of calibre.”
He feels that a lot more needs to be done if the sport is to get back to the “glory days of D’Urban Park” and in line with other Caribbean countries.
“This country is woefully behind. Many of the racing entities need to improve their facilities.
My major disappointment is with the Government, in that relevant legislation has not yet been passed. I personally drafted the document and it was given to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport a long time ago. The minister had given a commitment to have it tabled in Parliament, but to date, nothing has been done.”
“For things to get better, the government must come on board and work with the GHRA (Guyana Horse Racing Authority). They must give concessions and pass the legislation, which will help to regularize the sport.”
Mr. Crawford opined that Guyana can once again be the centrepiece of horse racing in the Caribbean, but reiterated that “the Government must assist, they cannot play this laid back game”.
“In any country where sports are dominant the Government plays a leading role in assisting. They do not control, but assist.”
“Some of the persons coming into the sport are not interested in learning to do things properly. No matter how much money is plugged into the game, if people are not interested in learning to do things properly, then things will not get better. To be involved in horse racing takes a lot of money and the cost has gone up astronomically.”
His family established their own facility, the Alness Race Track, now, the Ryan Crawford Memorial Turf Club and Sport Facility (RCMTC&SF) in 1975.
“Horse racing is a sport that I like very much and I will be around it as long as I can maneuver and continue to train horses. I would very much like the game to get back to the days of yore.”
Horse racing has run through five generations of the family so far. His eldest nephew, Colin Elcock, is one of the leading race horse owners. In fact Mr. Crawford revealed that it was he who introduced his nephew into the sport and gave him his first race horse, Galaxy.
Two Sundays ago, Mr. Crawford’s stable was adjudged the champion stable away at the RCMTC& SF race meet.