CARLTON Wheelers Cycle Club’s Godfrey Pollydore made his way to Suriname to compete in this year’s Bigi Bergi cycle road race, hours before the event pedalled off and had no regrets, coming away with a creditable fourth position overall, when it culminated last Sunday in Paramaribo, with an overall time of 7h.45m:06secs.

Team Guyana’s Michael Anthony copped the top junior position in the event, won by French Guiana’s Eric Vincent in a time of 7h.45m:04secs, with Anthony’s timing being 49 seconds slower than Vincent which landed him the number 10 position overall, with Vincent being two seconds faster than Pollydore.
National Road Race and Time Trial champion Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey of Team Coco’s Guyana, tied for fifth position overall with Moses Ricketts, but was relegated one place lower, even though he had the same time 7h.45m:06secs as Ricketts.
Former national Road Race king Orville Hinds, who lost that title to Jeffrey this year, placed 20th, 4m:10secs slower than Vincent with Roraima Bikers Club’s ace cyclist Alanzo Greaves finishing four places below Hinds.
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, the team’s manager Brian Allen said one of their major objectives was achieved during the event.
“It was always our intentions to have our cyclists ride as a team, whenever they go overseas and compete and even though the results did not reflect their performance to its fullest, since they were hampered by several things, it was a privilege to see Team Guyana ride as a team during the race.
In fact, Greaves, Pollydore (even though he was not a member of Team Guyana), Jeffrey and Anthony were a part of the breakaway peloton during the second stage, with Greaves suffering from cramps a mere 10km from the finish line and was caught by the chasing peloton,” said Allen.
He believes that if Greaves was not impeded by cramps, he would have gone on to finish within the top five of that stage, thus increasing Team Guyana’s chances of gaining better positions overall, but was nevertheless pleased with their overall performances.
“Their performance as a team – despite the results – augurs well for our chances in this year’s Caribbean Cycling Championships (CC) in Curacao as well as the annual five-stage cycle road race, once they are all selected to represent Team Guyana,” posited Allen.
Meanwhile, Chronicle Sport was reliably informed that only three members from the team that competed in Suriname, namely Greaves, Jeffrey and Hinds, were shortlisted to compete in the CCC that is scheduled for next month.
When quizzed on this, Allen said it was an unofficial announcement as it relates to the three being selected, but did declare that Anthony was ruled out because he is still a junior cyclist, while Enzo Matthews, who made up the five-man Team Guyana for the Bigi Bergi, was drafted in for that event at the last moment.