Senior national road race champion Alonzo Greaves outsprinted his more illustrious rivals including defending champion Warren Mc Kay (who had to settle for the runner up spot) to win the 11th Annual Dr. Cheddi Jagan Memorial cycle road race from New Amsterdam to Number 55 Village Corentyne and back to Babu John for the finish in a time of 2:23:36 yesterday morning in the county of Berbice.
The race, organized by national cycling coach Hassan Mohammed who is celebrating 50 years in the sport of cycling and the Dr. Cheddi Jagan Memorial Committee of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and sponsored by B.K International, was held in memory of the late Jagan, who died in 1997 just 16 days before his 79th birthday.
After being sent on their way by Regional Chairman of Region Six, Zulfiqar Mushkan, Junior Niles sped to the front of the peloton as they approached the Canje Bridge before being joined by Jaikarran Sukhai.
As they approached the turn leaving the village of Palmyra, Niles and Sukhai were joined by Greaves, Mc Kay, Robin Persaud, John Charles and Raymond Newton.
Sukhai was dropped when the leading bunch turned on the heat which added to the scorching early morning sun the riders had to endure.
So devastating was the pace set by the leaders that Chris Persaud decided to call it a day after five miles into the race as the leaders increased their lead to 1500 metres which resulted in the race being decided in the first six miles of the upward journey.
The chasing peloton, which included Lear Nunes, Junior road race king Christopher Holder, Enzo Matthews and the veterans Linden Blackman, Ian Jackson, Kennard Lovell and Gary Benjamin, never made an attempt to rein in the leaders.
The front runners worked assiduously to maintain their lead over the chasing two man peloton of Nunes and Holder who had reduced the deficit to approximately 1:45 seconds.
The front runners continued their dominance, even sharing the eight sprint prizes that were up for grabs amongst themselves until they reached within 150 metres for home where Greaves made his move much to the surprise of his rivals.
He sprinted to the front from the rear of the pack and maintained a 25-metre lead all the way across the finish line over Mc Kay, Niles, Persaud, Charles and Newton who finished in that order.
Lovell can finally boast about defeating Blackman which he did in the Veteran category defeating his rival by a mere cycle wheel with Benjamin, third.
Holder, who finished seventh overall, was the first junior to complete the distance in the absence of defending junior champion Geron Williams.
Matthews who came in approximately 7:30s after the winner, placed second and 14-year-old Neil Reece third in the junior category.
In the Upright category, Dexter Wilson placed first with Shawn Frank and 73-year-old Edward Williams placing second and third respectively.
Williams also received a special prize for being the first Berbician to cross the line.
At the presentation ceremony that followed, Presidential Adviser Navin Chanderpaul congratulated the cyclists for their efforts in completing the distance.
“The race was contested in a manner that displayed honour and discipline two key components of the life of Dr Cheddi Jagan in whose memory it was held. This event has kick-started the long list of activities for the month of March and another race of such a magnitude will be held to close off the activities at the end of the month. That race will be held in the county of Essequibo on March 30 and I must say congratulations to you for the sterling efforts you put in and heartiest congratulations to the winner” he said.
