Cyclist Robin Persaud braved the rain to cross the finish line in first position when the Forbes Burnham 88th birth anniversary cycle road race ended yesterday morning at Carifesta Avenue.
Some of the country’s leading cyclists took to the East Coast Demerara public road for the race, which began at Carifesta Avenue from 07:00 hours, proceeded to Burnham’s former residence at Belfield and returned to Carifesta Avenue for the finish.
Persaud won the race in a time of one hour, 12 minutes and nine seconds (1:12:09), ahead of second place finisher Geron Williams, while last year’s winner Alonzo Greaves finished third in the senior category.
Linden’s Mark Lewis was among the fastest riders in the race intermittently and as a result picked up five of the 10 sprint prizes up for grabs, but only managed to cross the finish line in fourth position. Jamaal Nichols was fifth and Junior Niles sixth.
Sprint prizes also went to Darren Allen (two), Marlon Williams (one), Tony Simon (one) and Alex Mendes (one).
The event also saw competition in the junior, veteran and female categories with the top three juniors and veterans each receiving prizes, while the winning female received a prize.
Kurt Larose topped the race in the junior category, limiting Paul DeNobrega to second and Raymond Jeffrey to third place, while cycling veteran Junior Niles outrode Raymond Newton and Salim Shaw to win the veteran race. Newton and Shaw finished second and third respectively.
The only two female participants in the event went head-to-head in the female race, which culminated with Linden’s Hazina Barratt securing first place ahead of Naiomi Singh.
The race was sponsored by the Forbes Burnham Foundation and is held in commemoration of the birth anniversary of former president of the co-operative republic, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham yesterday.
