By Emmerson Campbell
Junior cyclist Paul DeNobrega yesterday sprinted his way to victory to cop the fourth annual Cheddi Jagan Memorial Claybrick Factory-sponsored 50-mile road race.
DeNobrega won yesterday’s event in one hour, 59 minutes and 24 seconds.
De Nobrega’s win came one week after another junior cyclist Raynauth Jeffrey, sped away with the BK-sponsored 14th annual Cheddi Jagan Memorial 55-mile road race title in Berbice.
Yesterday’s race started at Wales Police Station, proceeded to Bushy Park and ended at the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
DeNobrega, 17, led Eric Sankar, Orville Hinds, two other juniors Jeffrey and Raul Leal and veteran Junior Niles into the top six positions.
Along with copping the senior winner’s trophy, DeNobrega also copped a sprint prize as did Hinds, Rastaff O’Selmo and Jude Bentley.
Warren ‘40’ McKay and Walter Grant-Stewart were also the recipients of sprint prizes.
They each won two primes.
Talim Shaw, Mark Spencer and Andy Rajkarran were the top three veterans while Walter Isaacs was the first over 60 years finisher. Dexter Wilson, Cleveland King and Nigel Jacobs were the top three upright finishers in that order. Alfie Sonaram, 14, copped a trophy for being the youngest starter.
The event, which was the second of three scheduled Cheddi Jagan Memorial cycle road races, saw 57 riders including females Naomi Singh (female winner) and Hazina Bharat facing the starter’s pistol.
The race, which was highly competitive, saw the riders bunched together for most of the event with the lead interchanging periodically.
On the way back at the village of Uitvlugt, DeNobrega, Geron Williams, McKay, Sankar and Niles broke away from the rest of riders. The riders were hotly pursued by a group of riders that included Alonzo Greaves, Jeffrey, Leal, Grant-Stewart, and Robin Persaud.
At Vreed-en-Hoop, DeNobrega, Niles and Sankar took command of the race and this trio enjoyed a brief lead before Niles was dropped two miles later. Leal, Jeffrey and Hinds would join Sankar and DeNobrega with less than a mile from the finish line to go. With 300 metres to go on the homestretch, the race was still undecided as the top five finishers were still bunched up.
With victory in sight, each of the riders rose from their respective saddles and a fierce sprint to the line ensued.
The hungrier DeNobrega, however, seemed to find another gear and sped to the victory.
After the event DeNobrega said he was motivated by Jeffrey’s exploits last week and felt the need to step up his game. He also intimated that when he lost his younger brother, Justin in January he had stopped training and that had affected his recent abysmal performances. DeNobrega assured that he has since restarted his training and is now focusing on a successful season.
Before the prize giving ceremony, Minister of Sport, Dr Frank Anthony, congratulated the starters and mentioned that starting from this year if any rider wins all three of the Cheddi Jagan Memorial (CJM) races, that rider would be presented with a special trophy. The minister also stated that after the third leg, riders that have competed in the CJM races for the past 10 years will also receive prizes.
At the prize giving ceremony, Jeffrey took home the juniors’ first runner up trophy and he was also the recipient of racing attire which was presented by Shaw on behalf of US-based Guyanese and former cyclist Elvis Budram. The attire was presented as a reward for Jeffrey’s commendable performances over the last year.
Mohamed, the national cycling coach, thanked the cyclists for making the event a successful one and stated that he will pedal off the third leg of Cheddi Jagan Memorial races on March 25 in Essequibo.
