Once again, Alonzo Greaves proved to all and sundry that he is the man to beat when he outsprinted his competitors to win the feature event of the George ‘Boy Blue’ Cumberbatch second annual memorial cycle race around the inner circuit of the National Park on Saturday.
Choosing to sit back in the saddle and wait for the opportune time to sprint home for the finish, Greaves had to pull out all the stops to claim victory from Junior Niles, Geron Williams and Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams in that order.
Twenty-four cyclists faced the starter, but only seven had the stamina to go the full distance of 30 laps around the circuit with Williams being the pace-setter earlier in the race.
Approaching the first turn to the eastern entrance of the National Park, Niles and Darren Allen broke away from the pack and held a lead of approximatrely 200 metres for five laps.
As is customary, Williams led the peloton in the quest to regroup with the leaders and they rode together for another six laps before the unfit began to drop out of the race.
Approaching the turn for the finish, John Charles, who finished fifth, started the sprint for home closely followed by Niles and Robin Persaud, who finished behind Charles.
Greaves took his cue from Williams who was right alongside him and easily out sprinted his rivals to win by a cycle length from Niles.
Greaves also won six sprint prizes whilst Niles won 10. Allen won five of the sprint prizes up for grabs whilst there were three each for Williams and Persaud. Tyrone Hamilton, Raymond Newton and Warren Mc Kay also won one sprint prize each.
In other races held earlier in memory Cumberbatch who is the lone cyclist to ever win a medal at the Central American Championships for Guyana, Christopher Holder outsprinted John Williams to claim the top spot in the Junior/Juvenile category 10-lap event. Enzo Matthews placed third.
In the category three and four race over 10 laps, Darren Allen rode away from Jaikarran Sukhai to claim the top spot. Veteran Under-45 cyclist Linden Blackman beat Kennard Lovell in a sprint home for third position.
In the 10 lap race for category one and two riders, Williams was an easy winner from Newton and Charles, winning by 30 seconds.
Anthony Freeman won the BMX Boys 9-12 age group from Tean Joseph, Naomi Singh and Lisa Edwards in that order. He returned to compete in the 12-14 age groups for BMX cyclists and placed second to Onia Mc Culley. Jamal Cromwell who suffered a spill after he crossed the finish line, placed third.
The BMX 6-9 category was won by Crystal Blackman who defeated her more illustrious male competitors in Raymond Perez (2nd) and Dominique Helmick in that order. Ryan Bhagwandin was also in winners’ row with victory in the BMX Open category. Kunta Mc Kenzie placed second and Kevin Edwards a creditable third.
The veterans Over-45 category was won by Monty Parris from Aubrey Gravesande and Anthony Fariah in that order.
