HAVING won the first stage which was held earlier in the day and placing third in the second, Roraima Bikers Club’s (RBC) Alanzo Greaves easily rode away with the inaugural Burnham Foundation organised and sponsored fifth annual Forbes Burnham Memorial cycle road race yesterday.

Greaves’ overall time was 2h.31m:36seconds, one second faster than national road race champion Orville Hinds and an additional three seconds over Geron Williams, while Robin Persaud, who took the second stage after Greaves won the first one, placed fourth, 17 seconds adrift of Williams.
Greaves’ RBC teammate Warren ‘40’ McKay, placed fifth overall 20 seconds behind Persaud and an additional second over the sixth placed Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, with Akeem Ambrose landing the top spot in the junior category over Akeem Arthur and Montel Anthony.
The Veteran’s division was won by Raymond Newton, with Junior Niles and Talim Shaw finishing second and third respectively, even as Linden’s Hazina Barrett continued her dominance in the female category on the local scene, taking that division from Naomi Singh.
Hinds and Williams placed second and third behind Greaves in the first stage, with Hinds and Greaves completing the podium finish behind Persaud in the second stage and of the 12 prime prizes that were up for grabs, Hinds, Williams and Eric Sankar took home two each, with the other six being shared equally amongst Greaves, Persaud, Anthony, Walter Grant-Stuart, Mark Lewis and Andrew Reece.
Yesterday afternoon’s second stage got underway in overcast conditions, with the riders pedaling off from Ocean View Hotel, proceeding East on the East Coast carriageway to Belfield and back to the place of origin for the finish.
As they approached the Sparendaam Police Station, the more illustrious riders such as the top six overall finishers along with Grant-Stuart, Newton, Niles, Paul De Nobrega and Raynauth Jeffrey, separated themselves from the junior riders, before Jeffrey suffered a spill at Mon Repos.
He managed to avoid any serious injuries and with the help of his Team Coco’s Guyana club mate Grant-Stuart, reconnected with the pack as they entered the village of Lusignan, where they all stayed together on the upward journey.
They were given the turn back orders at Belfield, wherein several mini breaks occurred on the downward journey, until the first six finishers along with Grant-Stuart, Choo-Wee-Nam and Jeffrey made a move to the front as they approached Vryheid’s Lust.
Niles suffered a spill at the University of Guyana road, but by the time he got back into his saddle after rectifying a loose chain, Persaud and Hinds had made their move on Greaves and Williams to take the top two positions, leaving Greaves to outsprint Williams for the third and pivotal spot.
Prior to the presentation of prizes, Executive member of the Burnham Foundation Vincent Alexander thanked the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) for working with his entity to pull off the race, saying they made it two stages covering 90km, to commemorate the 90th birth anniversary of the late President Forbes Burnham.
“When we started this race, it was a one stage race and now we have two stages. We have heard the plea to take the race to Linden and we will consider it” stated Alexander, who was referring to GCF’s president Cheryl Thompson’s plea to host a stage of the race in Linden.
Alexander, who is also the Registrar at the University of Guyana, said the Burnham Foundation was pleased to be organizing the race, adding that the late President was keen about sports in this country and if he was alive, would have done the same at this time of the year, irrespective of the sport.
Thompson thanked all those who participated in the event this year, including the 50 cyclists, (an increase of 15 after 35 faced the starter’s orders last year), while adding she is looking to see more cyclists facing the starter next year.