-Ride for Life 4 fifth stage ends in photo finish
The fourth annual Ride For Life cycle road race came climaxed yesterday at Homestretch Avenue with Miami-based cyclist Frank Travieso clinching victory over Godfrey Pollydore and Alonzo Greaves in a photo finish in the fifth and final stage.
Travieso won the stage, which began in Linden in a time of two hours, 40 minutes and 28 seconds.
It was almost impossible to determine who won the race with the naked eye and the top three finishers, who led a sizable leading pack across the finish line, sent race officials scurrying for digital cameras to review the finish line photos and video cameras to observe videos of the close finish.
After a comprehensive review of the footage from the final seconds of the race it was determined that Travieso was the winner by the thickness of a hair.
Pollydore was adjudged second and Greaves third.
Travieso’s teammate and the event’s overall winner, Antonio Quintero finished fourth, while Geron Williams and Warren McKay closed out the top six positions in that order.
Quintero went into the fifth stage in the top spot with the best time and ended yesterday’s race in the same position.
None of the other cyclists were able to shave enough time off of Quintero’s lead which he had secured after the end of the first stage.
Quintero not only won the event, but he completed the five stage 226-mile race in a record time of 10 hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds, shattering defending champion Geron Williams’ time of 10 hours, 30 minutes and 51 seconds, set last year.
Eric Sankar and Marlon Williams, who shared a time of 10 hours, 18 minutes and 32 seconds, also shared the second position, while Tony Simon placed fourth after clocking 10 hours, 18 minutes and 37 seconds.
Rounding out the top 10 places were Walter Grant-Stewart (10:18:38), Alonzo Greaves (10:20:35), Geron Williams (10:20:52), Godfrey Pollydore (10:21:00), Frank Travieso (10:21:10) and Raymond Newton (10:21:17) in that order.
The 40 year old Quintero also emerged as the overall winner of the veterans category. Raymond Newton and Gerard Yates, were second and third respectively in that category.
Topping the Juniors category was Paul DeNobrega with Keron Bramble placed second and Kurt LaRose third.
At the presentation ceremony, wahich was held at the National Cultural Centre shortly after the conclusion of the final stage, prizes were presented to the top performers in the event.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, Director of Sports Neil Kumar, Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Alfred King, President of the Guyana Cycling Federation Hector Edwards and National Cycling Coach Hassan Mohamed were among the officials present at the presentation ceremony.
Kumar in his address to the gathering, stated that the event was “indeed a great success.
“We [The organizers] got extremely good support and the response from the people was very, very good.
“The activity was a success because everybody worked hard and gave their best,” Kumar added.
Ramsammy said the cyclists “have contributed to a great experience.
“All of you in my book are winners,” said Ramsammy.
Anthony stated that the riders have definitely improved from previous years in terms of the “quality of riding”.
He justified this statement by citing the speed at which the cyclists completed the race this time around and the competitiveness at which the race was contested.
