-eyes CAC Games

By Floyd Christie
Nineteen-year-old Continen-tal Cycling Club cyclist Geron Williams has his eyes fixed on participating at the upcoming CAC games after a splendid stint of racing in Trinidad and Tobago.

The youngster, who celebrated his birthday on Sunday, recently returned to Guyana after a six-week stint of training and racing at Trek Team in Trinidad.

Williams participated in a number of meets including the 2010 Southern Games Cycling Criterium in Marabella, San Fernando, the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation/Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago Easter Grand Prix and the Beacon Series competition during the period March 18 to April 24.

Williams, though, saved his best performances for two events where he came up against a strong international field.

On the first night of the Easter Grand Prix competition Williams placed second in the 30-lap International event and the following night placed third in the International race 30-lap event.

Asked if competing in the twin island republic was tough Williams replied:”Yes! It was.

“Racing there was very difficult. It was a mixture track and criterium racing which is a bit different from what we do here seeing that criterium is done on a circuit and track is done on a velodrome. Here we do mostly road racing,” he told Stabroek Sport last evening.

In the International and Invitational 20-lap event at the Southern Games Williams rode aggressively to a second place finish.

The race was won by Michael Larsen of Denmark with Jackie Simes of the United States, third and Denmark’s Mads Anderson, fourth.

Williams then proceeded to better his performance in the Southern Games by taking first place in the elimination race of the Easter Grand Prix which attracted riders from France, the United States, Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Barbados.

In the other race meets at the Easter Grand Prix, Williams finished among the top finishers in the five, six and 30-lap events, placing third, fifth and second respectively.

He also finished fourth in the one-lap sprint.

Adding to his successes, Williams powered his way into third place in each of the two six-lap events at the Beacon Series.

Williams said the criterium race was especially grueling because “all of the guys wanted to be in the top 10.”

As a result, he explained that there was a constant battle by the cyclists to get to the front.

“Both of my performances that were credible came in the international events,” he said.

Now Williams has his eyes fixed on representing Guyana at the upcoming CAC games in Puerto Rico.

“We are still waiting on the release of the names from either the Guyana Cycling Federation or the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) but I am hoping

To be on the team for that,” he disclosed.

Gene Samuels of Trek Team, Trinidad is ecstatic over Williams’ performances.

“Yes these were really great results against the strongest international field we have had in the last few years,” he said.

Samuels said although he was impressed with Williams’ aggressiveness, he feels that the youngster could do better.

“You could have done a little better results wise….but you are also a good team player assisting in out of team activity. Most outstanding category one rider in both meets,” Samuels ended.