Geron Williams outsprinted Alonzo Greaves and Robin Persaud to win the annual Mashramani 40-mile cycle road race yesterday from the Demerara Harbour to Bushy Park on the East Bank of Essequibo and back to the Harbour Bridge for the finish.
During the race he also won one of the six prime prizes with Persaud, who placed second, taking two and Greaves, in the third position, Daniel Ramchurgee and Darren Allen picking up one prime prize each.
Williams won this year’s event with a time of 1:44.13- just under two minutes slower than Christopher Holder last year mark of 1:42.54s.
Raymond Newton, who won the veterans’ category, rode in fourth while Ramchurjee and Albert philander rounded out the top six positions in fifth and sixth places. Linden’s Rostaff O’ Selmo copped the junior category ahead of Paul De Nobrega and Junior Niles had to contend for the runner up position in the veterans’ category. Stabroek Sport spoke to Williams after the presentation ceremony at the western end of Guyana’s first floating bridge and he said that the race was competitive but he felt comfortable throughout and he will be looking to replicate his performance in next Sunday at Cheddi Jagan Memorial three-stage race meet in New Amsterdam.
Williams maintains that he wants to maintain his consistency at that event and barring mechanical failures with his machine and puncture to his tires he hopes he can come out successful. He said that he enjoyed the pace of the race this year despite the heavy headwind on the way down to the turn back point.
Williams said the top three finishers broke away from the pack at La Jalousie and about five miles before the turn back point they were joined by Newton and Ramchurjee and they controlled the pace to the end.
Meanwhile, Williams revealed that he is hoping to start competing in Trinidad & Tobago sometime in mid March but negotiations are currently ongoing so it is unclear at the moment whether he will be eligible to participate for the Inter Guiana Games. He reportedly will be mostly participating in the Criterium cycle races.
A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km), often run on closed-off city center streets or on an indoor track. Race length can be determined by a total time or a number of laps, in which case the number of remaining laps is calculated as the race progresses.
The events often have prizes called primes (pronounced “preems”) for winning specific intermediate laps (for instance, every 10th lap). A bell is usually rung to announce to the riders that whoever wins the next lap, wins the prime.
