AFTER a short hiatus from the sport of cycling, Orville Hinds made his presence felt by taking top honours in the Banks DIH-sponsored 4th Annual PowerAde 50-mile cycle road race which was coordinated by national cycling coach Hassan Mohamed and staged in the West Demerara area yesterday.

Hinds, who has been inactive for a few weeks stopped the clock at one hour 55 minutes 55 seconds and finished ahead of veteran rider Robin Persaud, Alonzo Ambrose, Hamzah Eastman, Mario King and Paul DeNobrega in that order.
After being sent on their way from outside the Wales Police Station, West Bank Demerara, the juniors journeyed to Bushy Park, East Bank Essequibo before turning back to finish at the Demerara Harbour Bridge, while the ladies, veterans and mountain bikers turned back at Uitvlugt to finish at the same point. Alonzo Ambrose won the junior category ahead of Michael Anthony and Stephano Husbands respectively, while Ralph Williams was the winner of the veteran category. Second was Talim Shaw while Husbands placed third.
Ozia McAully won the mountain bike category ahead of Seon Budhan and Wayne Marks respectively while Guyana’s female representative at the recently concluded Inter-Guiana Games in Suriname, Ronella Samuels won the female category.
Walter `Buck Man’ Isaacs was the first Over-60 cyclist to cross the finish line.
Before the presentation of prizes to the winners, race organiser thanked Banks DIH for staying on board over the past years and expressed his hope that they will be on board next year. He congratulated all the cyclists for participating in the event and told them that they were all winners, since without their participation the event would not have been a success.
Banks DIH outdoor manager and former national football player Mortimer Stewart congratulated the cyclists and thanked them for their participation. He also pledged his company’s support for the event in the future.
The defending champion of the senior event was Raynauth Jeffrey who is currently in Vera Cruz, Mexico representing Guyana at the Central American and Caribbean Games along with Geron Williams. Jeffrey had clocked one hour 51 minutes 02.60 seconds last year.