TACTICAL riding from Linden’s Orville Hinds saw the cyclist rode away with the Open category in the second annual Ansa Mc Al/Tropical Rhythm sponsored Roraima Bikers Club (RBC) organized 60 miles cycle road race yesterday morning in a time of 2h.04:14secs. Following a roll off which took place from the entrance of the sponsor’s Beterverwagting head office, Hinds along with the defending champion Warren ‘40’ Mc Kay, Raynauth Jeffrey, Alonso Greaves, Raul Leal, made a move to the front of the peloton as they approached the village of Lusignan on the upward journey.
They held a lead of 75 meters over the peloton which included Robin Persaud, Geron Williams, Walter Grant-Stuart, Albert Philander, Enzo Matthews, Kennard Lovell, Talim Shaw, and the lone female competitor Naomi Singh.
As they quintet worked in tandem at the front of the peloton, their lead was increased to approximately 400 meters, despite the brief showers which came their way as they traversed through Mahaica, via the old road.
Positive riding from the chasing peloton saw the gap between the two being reduced to approximately 150 meters, as they approached the turn back point, just before the Mahaicony Bridge.
Mc Kay began to suffer from cramps on the downward journey and was forced to withdraw from the front peloton along with Leal, after they passed Ann’s Grove, while Hinds made his move to the front of Jeffrey and Greaves as they approached Belfield.
He was never caught, heading to the finish line all alone while a tired looking Greaves caught a second wind to edge Jeffrey at the line for the second position, with Persaud, Williams and Grant-Stuart completing the top six positions.
Of the 10 prime prizes that were up for grabs, Hinds took five, Jeffrey two while Greaves, Leal and Mc Kay carted off one each.
The Veteran’s category was won by Turham Harris, with Shaw and Lovell placing second and third respectively, while Jeffrey won the Junior category from Leal and Paul De Nobrega and Keon Thomas the Mountain Bike category from Andre Petty and Mikhail Diaz.
At the simple presentation ceremony which followed, president of RBC Brian Allen thanked the sponsors for their generosity, while Ansa Mc Al’s Public Relations Officer Darshanie Yusuf expressed her company’s gratitude at being associated with the event which was a success, for another year.
According to Yusuf, Ansa Mc Al will be partnering with the club for next year’s event, which they hoped to make a spectator’s one, taking into consideration the response shown by the public during the upward and downward journey of the race.