The cream of Guyana’s cyclists will once again be competing in the 7th annual George Cumberbatch Memorial Cycle Championship on Sunday at the Seawall Band Stand Circuit sponsored by Humphrey’s Bakery.
The event has been organized by the Roraima Bikers Club (RBC) in the memory of the former national cyclist and executive of the club.
Brian Allen, President of the Club, at the Club’s headquarters above the Humphrey’s Bakery, Charlestown yesterday said that seven events are carded to mark the 7th year that the event has been running.
“We have the Juniors Juvenile Category 3, Category 1 to 3, Veterans under 50, Veterans Over 50, Win and out and the feature event a 35 laps open for all cyclists around the Band Stand”.
Allen explained the Win and Out race, “you go a certain amount of laps and when the bell rings, there is a sprint and the winner drops out and he wins, and they continue riding after that, sprint for the second winner. This will be going from one to sixth place”.
He however said in the other five races only the top three finishers will be rewarded for their performances.
Clifford ‘Total’ Johnson, part sponsor, past president of the Roraima Cycle Club and also close friend of the late George Cumberbatch said his friend was a lover of the sport.
“I was selected to represent Guyana in Suriname in 1954, I went there and did very well, three firsts and a third, but George Cumberbatch clipped me on the last race the 25,000-metre that is the only race I lost. We went back the following year and did very well. George was younger, he moved up to the top and he showed me some things so I decided to leave Guyana”.
The eighty-one-year-old said since his friend’s death he made the decision to participate in the memorial, “He was my personal friend, we discussed a lot of things, the last race we rode was in Trinidad where I was beaten by Compton Gonsalves, then champion West Indian cyclist, Cumberbatch won the 9,000 metres and I decided that age was catching up with me so I got to move on”.
Johnson said his deceased friend was an excellent distance cyclist while he was the sprinter.
