THE ACRONYM TEAM which to some persons means Together Everyone Achieves More was certainly highlighted by the Trinidad and Tobago based cycling team Heatwave, who sheltered their 19 year old teammate Jamol Eastman, enabling him to cart off the overall title in the 31st annual National Sports Commission (NSC) Independence three- stage cycle road race yesterday.
Carlton Wheelers Cycle Club’s (CWCC)

Robin Persaud took the third and final stage which saw the 42 riders who faced the starter, pedaling from Kara Kara on the Linden highway to Homestretch Avenue, a distance of 64.5 miles, in a time of 2h. 40mins:54secs ahead of Andrew Reece and Christopher Holder respectively.
Despite the win, Persaud who trailed Jamal Eastman by 1m: 18secs before the start of yesterday’s third and final stage, found it difficult to reduce that time as the young rider who resides in the parish of St. Phillip, Barbados, took home the first place trophy after completing the three stages in a time of 6h. 58mins: 13secs.
Continental Cycle Club’s Geron Williams who placed fourth behind the top three yesterday, finished second to Jamol Eastman with a time of 6h. 58mins: 20secs, with Orville Hinds, Alanzo Greaves, Raynauth Jeffrey and Raul Leal, completing the top six paying positions for the event.
However, it was the teamwork displayed throughout the final stage by the eventual winner and his teammates, which left many tongues wagging at the end of the event.
Five minutes into the race, and Roraima Bikers Club’s Warren ‘40’ McKay made his solo move to the front, where he was later joined by Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, Andrew Reece, Jason Perryman and John Charles and together they worked to hold a 30 seconds lead over the peloton.
Andre Simon left the chasing peloton and connected with the front runners, who were joined shortly after by Alain Smartt and the unrelated Christopher and Robin Persaud, while the peloton, which was led by Marlo Rodman and included Jamol Eastman, Greaves, Leal, Jeffrey, Hinds, Aubrey Gordon, Wazim Gafoor and Horace Burrowes, worked to reduce the lead.
As they passed Long Creek, the frontrunners held a lead of 40 seconds over the chasing peloton, but a hard working Rodman who waited for his teammate Jamol Eastman after he was dropped by the main peloton, played his part to bridge the gap and reduce it to seven seconds.
It was only a matter of time before they connected with the front runners and when they did, the high speed chase was brought to normalcy as they approached the Soesdyke/Linden Highway junction, where Jeffrey was the first to take the turn onto the East Bank Demerara carriageway.
Disaster, in the form of a flat back wheel, struck Jamol Eastman as they approached Coverden, but in true teamwork manner, Rodman, Perryman and Smartt waited with him as he made the wheel change, before Perryman did his yeoman part and guided Jamol Eastman back to the peloton, which, at the time, was passing Gafoor Group of Companies, Land of Canaan outlet.
Rodman and Smartt connected shortly after and just as the Miami based Team Coco had done in the past, Rodman moved to the front of the peloton with Perryman, Jamol Eastman and Smartt following in that order and took control of the race.
No Guyanese cyclist had any answer to the domination shown by Team Heatwave, until Holder made his solo move to the front as they approached Providence, where he was later joined by Reece and Persaud, who in the sprint for home, took the top podium spot.
Rodman piloted Jamol Eastman all the way to approximately 200 metres from the finish line, before making way for the pint sized cyclist to launch his sprint and in the process protect his lead, which he did successfully, while showering praise on his teammates shortly after.
“We will be back for the five stage race and hopefully we will be having a stronger team. What you saw is just a part of the team, as we only had five cyclists, when normally the team is between 7 to 9 members.
We are not in tip top shape, but for the five -stage we will be having a full team. The plan was to take all three stages, after winning the first two, but it was hard to trick the Guyanese riders who rode as a team, but eventually I wish to say thanks to my team who did a tremendous job in controlling the race for me to win.”
The presentation of prizes was done at the National Cultural Centre, where Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony applauded both the NSC and Guyana Cycling Federation for completing another successful event.
Also in attendance at the presentation ceremony were Director of Sport Neil Kumar, Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Sport Alfred King, GCF president Cheryl Thompson and immediate past president Hector Edwards, who all assisted with the distribution of prizes won.
The top six finishers were separated by 20 seconds, with Jamol Eastman finishing seven seconds ahead of Williams, who was five seconds faster than Hinds, who topped Greaves by a second, with Jeffrey and Leal a further seven seconds behind Greaves.
However, Jeffrey finished ahead of Leal in all three stages and was granted the fifth position, with Leal’s sixth position landing him the top junior title over Hamza Eastman and Mario King, who both stopped the clock at 7h. 08mins: 49secs at the end of all three stages.
Burrowes’ overall time of 6hrs 59mins was fast enough to land him the top Veteran position over Gordon, who was 36 seconds slower and Junior Niles who was 7mins and 20secs slower than Gordon, while Naomi Singh received a special prize for being the lone female out of four to complete the event, when she did so in a time of 7h. 24mins: 43secs.