Hamzah Eastman stopped the clock at two hours 11 minutes 37.38 seconds to win the inaugural Ministry of Health sponsored inaugural Caribbean Wellness Day 60-mile cycle road trace organised by national cycle coach Hassan Mohamed, yesterday, along the East Coast Demerara carriageway.The event which started with a roll start from the 1763 Monument at 13:00hrs saw Eastman and Raynauth Jeffrey making a break from the time the flag was signalled for the start at Conversation Tree on the East Coast Demerara and the duo never relinquished the lead, as they worked in tandem and controlled the lead until the end.
In the sprint for the finish across from the Ocean View International Hotel, Eastman jumped Jeffrey about 150 metres from the finish line to come out on top.
Jeffrey, however, picked up seven of the eight primes that were up for grabs while Eastman took the other.
Veteran cyclist and former national road race champion Godfrey Pollydore placed third while Christopher Holder, Marlon `Fishy’ Williams and Robin Persaud occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively.
According to Pollydore, after the flag went down signalling the start of the 60-mile event, Eastman and Jeffrey went out at a fast pace and no one bothered to take up the chase until about eight miles after the start when Williams tried singlehandedly to breach the gap but his efforts were in vain as the leading duo (Eastman and Jeffrey) had already established a sizeable lead and Williams kicked off.
The remainder is history as far as Pollydore is concerned as the two leaders came across the finish line unchallenged.
The junior category was won by Stephano Husbands who won ahead of Andre Gomes and Romelo Crawford respectively.
Junior Niles was the first veteran to cross the finish line. Second was Jaikaran Sukhai and third was M. Sookaram.
The mountain bike category was won by Adrian Sharma while Charles Ketwaroo and Michael Holder finished second and third respectively.
Monty Parris was the first over 60 cyclists to complete the course.
The presentation of prizes to the respective winners was done by Minister within the Ministry of Finance Bishop Juan Edghill.