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PRESIDENT of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Cheryl Thompson yesterday expressed her delight at the way the National Sports Commission (NSC)-organised Independence three-stage cycle road race has grown over the years.She was at the time delivering brief remarks in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) compound, where some of the cyclists who will be competing in this year’s 31st annual edition of the event assembled for the ceremonial send-off from Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony. Dr Anthony, MCYS’ Permanent Secretary Alfred King and Director of Sport Neil Kumar were all present at the sending-off, along with some members of the overseas contingent, which included Jamaica’s Marlo Rodman, Barbados’ Jamol Eastman and Jason Perryman and Alain Smartt.
“This, our 31st three-stage event has grown and it is nice to know that we have so many foreign cyclists competing this year, in which we have 13 excluding those who come over from Suriname. We also have the two former national cyclists in Jonathan Creavalle and Aubrey Gordon registered for this year’s event.
“With that in mind, we at the GCF hope to see very, very clean and competitive riding and I am calling on all the cyclists to adhere to the rules and regulations and we hope to see all the starters line up for the final leg Sunday (tomorrow) morning in Linden,” said Thompson.
Dr Anthony said the Ministry of Sport is very pleased to have the event, which is a very important one on the local cycling calendar of events for another year, while it has attracted a record number of entrants, even without the registration of the Surinamese cyclists, who are expected to do so at the starting line in Corriverton this morning.
“As was mentioned earlier by Ms Thompson, this event is indeed growing as we have surpassed last year’s number of entrants already, even though the Surinamese have not registered as yet. Another testimony towards the growth of this event is the number of females.
“There are five in total who will be competing this year and this also highlights the growing interest shown by females in the sport. I wish all the cyclists well, even as I look forward to seeing last year’s time being equaled or broken,” Dr Anthony stated.
Among the cyclists registered to do battle for supremacy over the next two days, covering a total of 171.5 miles (274.3 km) are Alonzo Greaves, Warren ‘40’ McKay, Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton, Robin Persaud, Jude Bentley, Junior Niles, Geron Williams, Godfrey Pollydore, Albert Philander, Enzo Matthews, Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson, Raynauth Jeffrey, Paul DeNobrega and Walter Grant-Stuart, just to name a few.
Two of the females, Naomi Singh and Hazina Bharrat, were present at yesterday’s send-off and the first leg will see the cyclists pedal off from Corriverton at 07:30hrs this morning and proceed to New Amsterdam for the finish, covering a distance of 46.6 miles.
Following a recuperation period of close to four hours, those who have finished the first stage will get back on their saddles and leave the Rosignol Stelling at 14:00hrs this afternoon, where they will proceed to Carifesta Avenue covering a distance of 60.4 miles to complete the second stage.
The third and final stage will take place tomorrow morning and will see the fittest of the lot moving off from Kara Kara on the Linden Highway and head to Homestretch Avenue for the finish, completing a distance of 64.5 miles, the longest in the event.
“This, our 31st three-stage event has grown and it is nice to know that we have so many foreign cyclists competing this year, in which we have 13 excluding those who come over from Suriname. We also have the two former national cyclists in Jonathan Creavalle and Aubrey Gordon registered for this year’s event.
“With that in mind, we at the GCF hope to see very, very clean and competitive riding and I am calling on all the cyclists to adhere to the rules and regulations and we hope to see all the starters line up for the final leg Sunday (tomorrow) morning in Linden,” said Thompson.
Dr Anthony said the Ministry of Sport is very pleased to have the event, which is a very important one on the local cycling calendar of events for another year, while it has attracted a record number of entrants, even without the registration of the Surinamese cyclists, who are expected to do so at the starting line in Corriverton this morning.
“As was mentioned earlier by Ms Thompson, this event is indeed growing as we have surpassed last year’s number of entrants already, even though the Surinamese have not registered as yet. Another testimony towards the growth of this event is the number of females.
“There are five in total who will be competing this year and this also highlights the growing interest shown by females in the sport. I wish all the cyclists well, even as I look forward to seeing last year’s time being equaled or broken,” Dr Anthony stated.
Among the cyclists registered to do battle for supremacy over the next two days, covering a total of 171.5 miles (274.3 km) are Alonzo Greaves, Warren ‘40’ McKay, Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton, Robin Persaud, Jude Bentley, Junior Niles, Geron Williams, Godfrey Pollydore, Albert Philander, Enzo Matthews, Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson, Raynauth Jeffrey, Paul DeNobrega and Walter Grant-Stuart, just to name a few.
Two of the females, Naomi Singh and Hazina Bharrat, were present at yesterday’s send-off and the first leg will see the cyclists pedal off from Corriverton at 07:30hrs this morning and proceed to New Amsterdam for the finish, covering a distance of 46.6 miles.
Following a recuperation period of close to four hours, those who have finished the first stage will get back on their saddles and leave the Rosignol Stelling at 14:00hrs this afternoon, where they will proceed to Carifesta Avenue covering a distance of 60.4 miles to complete the second stage.
The third and final stage will take place tomorrow morning and will see the fittest of the lot moving off from Kara Kara on the Linden Highway and head to Homestretch Avenue for the finish, completing a distance of 64.5 miles, the longest in the event.
