LINDEN cyclist Akeem Arthur won the third and final stage of the Annual Dr. Cheddi Jagan Memorial Three-Stage Cycle Road Race yesterday on the Essequibo Coast, but Team COCO’s Hamzah Eastman won the overall title for the event.The event which was sponsored by several businesses saw the largest turnout of cyclists this year unlike the past 18 years when it got underway as a one-stage event in Berbice.Over 45 cyclists faced the starter yesterday morning at Supenaam, Essequibo Coast and were sent on their way by Regional Chairman Region 2, Parmanand Persaud at 09:00 hrs.
Before giving the cyclists the green flag to wheel off, Persaud welcomed them to the region and expressed the hope that the youths of the region will take to the sport which, according to him is dormant in that part of Guyana.
Persaud said that unlike the past seven years that Region Two was given the privilege to host the third stage of the event, no remedial works had to be done this year to make the course a smooth one, as all the bridges had been repaired and the roadway is very smooth.
On being given the green flag, the junior and senior cyclists went off at a very fast rate, but two minutes into the race, stage favourite Orville Hinds suffered a puncture and had to pull out of the race as he did not have a spare wheel.
Fifteen minutes into the race, the pace of the race slowed down and five Team Coco’s riders took up the lead position.
The pack stuck together on the upward journey but were joined by the veterans, mountain bikers and ladies at Anna Regina and they all were together at the turn back point at Charity.
They remained one bunch as well on the downward journey with each cyclist eying the other waiting for someone to make an attack, but it was only with approximately 400 metres to the line that Arthur made his move and no one responded as the more seasoned riders were playing the cat and mouse game and Arthur crossed the finish line unchallenged, in a time of two hours, seven minutes, nine seconds, bettering the time recorded last year by Godfrey Pollydore by three minutes.
There was a bunch sprint for the other top five positions and Eastman held his nerve to edge Alonzo Greaves to take second place.
Veteran rider Robin Persaud who competes in the senior category placed fourth, while Horrace Burrowes and Paul Cho-We-Nam occupied the fifth and sixth positions respectively.
Junior Niles won three of the eight prime prizes that were on offer, while Paul DeNobrega won two.
Arthur, Jaikaran Sukhai and Silvio Inniss won one prime each.
Eastman was however declared overall champion since he won the first stage (10 points), placed fifth in the second stage (two points) and was second in yesterday’s stage (eight points).
Andrew Hicks who hails from Berbice won the junior category ahead of Jamal John and Raphael Leung respectively.
Marica Dick was first among the ladies. Second was Toshwana Doris.
Ralph Williams won the veterans’ over 50 years category ahead of Niles and Jaikaran Sukhai respectively.
The veterans’ over 60 years of age category was won by Walter `Buck Man’ Issacs.
Junior Melville was first among the mountain bikers. S. Garbarran was second, and third was Michael Holder.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar congratulated all the participants and noted that the event was a significant one since it coincided with the birth of former president of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan who would have been 97 years old yesterday if he were alive.
Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Ali Baksh in brief remarks, like Kumar, congratulated all the participants and also noted the significance of the event in memory of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
He praised Kumar for doing a wonderful job as Director of Sport, working overtime to ensure all things were in place for the staging of such events.

By Michael DaSilva