– Hinds, Jeffrey and Fraser crown new champs
CARLTON Wheelers Cycle Club’s (CWCC) Junior Niles easily retained his Veteran’s crown in the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) national championships which was held on the Linden/Soesdyke highway yesterday morning. Also in winner’s row were Linden’s very own Orville Hinds, Claire Fraser and the vast improving Raynauth Jeffrey, who took the seniors, female and junior categories respectively, dethroning Walter Grant-Stuart, Hazina Bharrat and Paul De Nobrega respectively.
The four categories of cyclists were given staggered starts from Amelia’s Ward entrance, with the four females namely Fraser, Bharrat, Naomi Singh and Marica Dick being sent on their way, followed by the Veterans, junior and senior cyclists.
The females and veterans proceeded to Dora and return to the place of origin for the finish, wherein the UK based Fraser, who won the time trial the previous day, came out on top over Singh and Dick, with Bharrat finishing fourth in the female category.
Like their female counterparts, the veterans also turned back at Dora and even though he got strong competition from Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson and Shameer Baksh, Niles did enough to come out on top and retain his title ahead of those two who finished second and third in that order.
At the start of this year’s cycling season, there is no other junior cyclist than Jeffrey, who rides under CWCC colors, who has shown tremendous, grit, stamina and determination on the local scene.
He won the first leg of the Cheddi/Janet Jagan Memorial road race in Berbice and took the second position behind Robin Persaud his teammate, in the final leg that was held in Essequibo two weeks later, after churning out an impressive performance to dictate the pace of the race from the front.
He shocked many, including the management of the Miami based Team Coco in last month’s 36th annual Independence three stage cycle road race, when he went to the front and dictated the pace of the race in the first stage.
His never say die attitude continued in the second stage later in the day, and were it not for his inability to sprint to the line, he would have won the stage, but still managed to place second, while overall he finished in seventh position and was the highest ranked Guyanese as well.
Much was expected of him in the GCF Championship and having taken the Junior time trial crown the previous day, he once again made his solo move to the front and eventually come out on top over Raul Leal and Linden’s very own Michael Anthony respectively.
The seniors journeyed to Madewini and approximately 15 minutes into the race, Hinds, Geron Williams, Enzo Matthews and Warren ‘40’ Mc Kay made their way to the front of the peloton, which included Grant-Stuart, Alonso Greaves, Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams, Robin Persaud, Eric Sankar, Andrew Reece and time trial winner Jude Bentley.
They dropped Matthews who found the pace too hot to handle at the front, while Mc Kay suffered a puncture shortly after the turn back point, leaving Geron Williams, who recently returned from the USA and Hinds to battle for supremacy.
The chasing peloton was a mere 200 metres away and they caught up with both Matthews and Mc Kay, following which Marlon Williams was dropped while Mc Kay and Greaves, his Roraima Bikers Club teammate, had a clash of wheels which threw both cyclists out of their saddles.
As they approached Silver Hill, Geron Williams began to suffer from cramps and was forced to withdraw from the event, leaving Hinds as the lone cyclist to cross the line, with Reece and Sankar finishing second and third respectively.