Eric Sankar has been putting out top performances at recent cycle race meets and he recorded another victory yesterday in the feature event of the 8th Annual Hand-in-Hand Fire and Life Insurance Company Limited 11-Race Cycle Programme around the inner circuit of the National Park.
Sankar won the feature 35-lap invitation race in a time of one hour, 24 minutes and 42 seconds (1:24:42), ahead of second place finisher Warren McKay, who also bagged two prime prizes.
The riders rode strategically in the final few laps of the race but Sankar was the one to launch the surprise attack when he emerged from within the pack and put some distance on the field in the final lap.
Robin Persaud finished third and picked up one prime prize, while Alex Mendes was fourth and Enzo Matthews fifth with four prime prizes. Closing out the top six positions was Kurt Larose.
However, in the Juveniles category, Larose rode to victory ahead of Shahed Zaiboon and Brandon Baker, who finished in second and third place respectively.
Kennard Lovell took the winning trophy in the veterans’ under-50 race after he out-pedaled second place finisher Davindra Ramnarine and Virgil Jones, who placed third, while Kirkland Kellman finished first in the veterans’ over-50 category in front of Courtney Thomas and Lancelot Rose who placed second and third respectively.
The upright category was won by Ozia McAulley, who restricted Richard Charles to second place and Mario King to third, and Naiomi Singh was victorious against Golin Debideen in the female category.
The BMX cyclists were also in action yesterday with Keon Harris leading his competitors Rishidi Ceres (second) and Philbert Walter (third).
Adrian Sharma won the boys 9-12 years category from Christopher Griffith and Jaleel Jackson in second and third respectively, while Julio Melville rode to victory in the boys 12-14 race which saw Darrius Ramsammy finishing second ahead of Adrian Sharma.
Meanwhile, Ramsammy was the first across the finishing line in the BMX boys open category after he left Samuel Dick (second) and Alonzo Ambrose (third) in his trail.
BMX category cyclists also came in for special awards at the presentation ceremony following the races when Hand-in-Hand Fire and Life Insurance Company Limited distributed three brand new BMX bikes and helmets to cyclists in need.