THERE is no doubt that this Sunday’s Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF), in collaboration with the Roraima Bikers Club (RBC)-organised Digicel Cancer Awareness cycle road race will be keenly contested, taking into consideration the prizes up for grabs including the largest first-place purse of $240 000.

Two Sundays ago, local cyclists competed in the second of two races which had lucrative prizes at stake, namely the second Annual Kadir Mohammed road race which was held one week after the 11th Annual Victor Macedo Memorial, with the former presenting the winner with one ounce of gold and a trophy and the latter a cash prize of $60 000.
Judging from the performances displayed by the cyclists in the abovementioned races and with the sixth annual Ministry of Health/Ministry of Sport’s ‘Ride For life’ five-stage cycle road race next month, there is no reason why cycling enthusiasts should not be at the finish line for Sunday’s event.
The race will get under way at 0700hrs when the Seniors and Open category riders pedal off from the Four-Corner Road in Linden and proceed to the Carifesta Avenue entrance of the National Park, while the Veterans, Junior and Female cyclists will ride from Splashmin to the same finish line.
Paul De Nobrega and Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams are the respective winners of the two races mentioned above, while DeNobrega holds the distinct advantage of winning last year’s RBC/Digicel Cancer Awareness feature event, when he rode off with $130 000 after copping first place in the Junior and Open categories.
But there is National Road Race and Time Trial champion Raynauth Jeffrey, who has been in tremendous form this season, along with Alanzo Greaves, Robin Persaud, brothers Orville and Delroy Hinds, Warren ‘40’ McKay, Raymond Newton, Godfrey Pollydore and Rastaff O’Selmo, who will all be in the hunt for the top prize.
One should not forget also, the likes of Stephen Fernandes, a former national hockey player who has been turning heads lately in the cycling fraternity, springing numerous upsets on his more illustrious and seasoned competitors in both the Open and Veteran categories.
Add Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, Alex Mendez, Eric Sankar, Christopher Holder and Geron Williams, along with former Time Trial champion Jude Bentley who rarely trains but when he competes he does very well irrespective of the category. In the Open category only God knows who will ride off with the top prize and a Breast Cancer Awareness jersey.
I say so, since the efforts of the junior cyclists, who will be competing for supremacy alongside their senior counterparts must not be forgotten, based on the present form of Michael Anthony, Shaquille Agard, Hamza Eastman, Kravitz Jeffrey, Mario King and Alanzo Ambrose.
Defending champion Junior Niles, Kennard Lovell, Shameer Baksh, Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson and Linden Blackman are all expected to challenge and halt the present winning spree of Fernandes, if he decides to ride in the Veterans and not the Open category of this event.
Not much can be said for the distaff side of things, since they are a limited field of approximately six cyclists, including the overseas-based Claire Fraser-Green, but Naomi Singh will be in her saddle to compete, even if Fraser-Green, Hazina Bharrat, Toshawna Doris or Marica Dick do not.
No doubt, the race sponsor Digicel, who lives by its motto ‘Bigger, Better Network’ will be looking to up the ante for this event next year, since compared to last year, they have asked the competing cyclists to make a donation, one that they intend to match 100% and donate same to the Guyana Cancer Society.
“We plan to make this race bigger and if we can, have a lot more participants to come regionally and participate in the race, so we look forward to your support, while we use this event to bring the awareness of Cancer to the Guyanese public.
“We … thank you in advance for supporting this race and coming out and showing your support to Cancer Awareness,” said Digicel’s Sales and Distribution Manager Nalini Vieira.
Sponsorship and Events Manager Gavin Hope, who, like Fernandes, is a former national hockey player in his own right, and also represented Guyana at athletics, called on all cyclists to come out and give of their best.
“The rewards will be good so we expect everyone to come out and ride for their lives and the cause, knowing what we are talking about and the seriousness of its impact on the lives of those who are affected,” stated Hope.