WHEN CYCLISTS attached to Team Alanis take to the West Demerara carriageway tomorrow to battle for supremacy in this year’s 10th annual Regan Rodrigues Memorial 50-mile road race, they will be doing so with broad smiles, thanks to the generosity of beverage distribution giant Ansa McAl.

This was after Divisional Manager of Ansa McAl, Sunesh Maikoo, on behalf of his company and in the presence of Public Relations Officer Darshanie Yusuf, handed over a set of uniforms to Team Alanis which is headed by Paul Choo-Wee- Nam and has among its membership, former Caribbean junior champion Paul DeNobrega and the vast-improving Cleveland King.
Prior to making the presentation, Maikoo said his company was pleased to be associated with Team Alanis, adding that they saw it fit to use the Lucozade brand for such purposes, since the cyclists will be using up lots of energy during their races and needed to be re-energised.
“Lucozade is growing and this event provides a perfect opportunity for us to showcase the product,” said Maikoo who pointed out that the cyclists are talented and when their talent is combined with such a great product as Lucozade it makes for a perfect combination.
Choo-Wee-Nam showered praise on Ansa McAl for its support, saying “The cycling fraternity is in need of this kind of support to move forward and I’d like to thank Ansa McAl for this corporate intervention while imploring similar support from other business entities.”
Apart from Choo-Wee-Nam and DeNobrega, other members of Team Alanis who were present for the presentation included Andre Abdool, Cleveland King, Jaleel Jackson and Christopher Griffith, who all expressed their eagerness to don the orange and black outfit tomorrow.
Carlton Wheelers Cycle Club’s Robin Persaud is the defending champion for tomorrow’s meet, having won last year’s race in a time of 1h. 57 min 27secs and is almost certain to make a successful defence of that title since five of the country’s current top performers are on national duty in Glasgow, Scotland where they are attending and competing in the XX Commonwealth Games.
The late Rodrigues is a former cyclist who served as president of the Guyana Cycling Federation for a number of years and was also president of CWCC, which is now headed by Hassan Mohammed, the organiser of tomorrow’s event.
Prior to his death on August 4, 10 years ago, Rodrigues was also a racing car champion and dominated the South Dakota Circuit for a number of years before retiring, while he also headed the Ricks and Sari Group of Companies and Agro Industries and sponsored a number of local races both in the National Park and on the roadways of Guyana.
He was known for his generosity, not only to cycling and cyclists, but also to other sport disciplines and at the completion of tomorrow’s race, which will cover a distance of 50 miles, his wife Dianne and other family members will present the prizes to the respective winners.

(By Calvin Roberts)