By Emmerson Campbell
The competitors of this year’s sixth annual ‘Ride for Life’ five-stage cycle road race were urged yesterday to raise the benchmark above last year’s performances so that every year improvements can be seen.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony called on the cyclists to rise to the challenge as he addressed them at his Main Street ministry during a formal send off yesterday.
“It gives me great pleasure to send off this race,” said Dr. Anthony. “We have been doing this for six years now and on this occasion I’m glad to see the largest turn out of 76 participants this year and I would like to thank the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) for the work they have been doing over the years to grow this race from year to year.”
He added: “Every year I would normally repeat the winning time from the year before and would challenge the cyclists to better it and I said to myself (last year) can these guys really lower the total this year and to my surprise they broke the record.
“So I want to challenge all of you to do better times this year and I am sure that when it is over on Sunday at the final stage we will be able to say we have bettered last year’s time and we are faster, may the best cyclist win and let us have a good race.”
The Minister of Sport also thanked the Ministry of Health for the funding of the event and for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS throughout Guyana through cycling.
The gruelling event, which was won last year by Dane Michael Larsen of the California based Passo Prime Beef Team in 10 hours, 20 minutes and 39 seconds, will require the riders to cover a total of 266 miles.
The first stage commences today from 07:30 hrs at Corriverton and ends at New Amsterdam (46 miles). Later today, stage two will begin at 14:00 hrs when the riders will pedal off at Rosignol and journey to Georgetown (60 miles).
Tomorrow, stage three will commence at 09:00 hrs at Wales and end at Parika (35 miles).
On Saturday, the penultimate stage will commence at 07:30 hrs at Supenaam and conclude at Suddie (62 miles).
On the final day, Sunday, the final stage will begin at 8:30 hrs with the cyclists riding from Linden and finishing in Georgetown in another 62-mile race.
All top 10 finishers will receive cash prizes and trophies.
The top three finishers will receive US$1,000 and a trophy, US$750 and a trophy and US$500 and a trophy respectively.
National road race champion, Orville Hinds, fellow Lindener Rastaff Oselmo along with national cyclists Robin Persaud, Junior Niles, Enzo Matthews, Geron Wiiliams and top juniors Paul DeNobrega, Raynauth Jeffrey, Raul Leal and Michael Anthony will come up against stiff competition from the overseas riders from Suriname, Aruba, St Lucia and especially from the Miami based unit Team Coco’s who previously won the event in 2010.
The local riders will also be tested by US based Guyanese Cecil Hunte and Shaun Green, a Triathlon athlete from England. Green is the husband of Guyana-born female cyclist Claire Fraser, who represented Guyana at the Commonwealth Games in India in 2010.
The tour is destined to have a new champion as last year’s winner, Larsen, from the Passo Prime Beef will not be defending his title as he is currently competing overseas.
Also speaking at the send off, President of the GCF, Cheryl Thompson, welcomed the overseas riders and urged all the cyclists to have a very competitive and safe ride in each of the stages.
Thompson also cautioned the senior competitors to look out for the junior riders which will include this year’s Junior Caribbean Cycling Championship gold medalists DeNobrega (junior) and Anthony (juvenile).
In his address to the cyclists Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, assured the cyclists a safe ride throughout all five stages as he said he had spoken to the Commissioner of Police and the Divisional Commanders while also emphasizing that medical equipment and personnel will be on hand throughout the five stages in case any rider needs medical attention
Also at the briefing were National Cycling Coach Hassan Mohamed; Community Mobilization Coordinator Nazim Hussein and Deputy Permanent Secretary, Steve Ninvalle.
Last year’s winners
Overall Winner – Michael Larsen (Passo Prime Beef Team)
(10Hrs/20Mins/39 Secs)
Junior – Jamal Eastman (Barbados) (10Hrs/21Mins/01Secs)
Veteran – Raymond Newton
