Written By Calvin Roberts
NOT KNOWN to be one of the better sprinters around the local cycling fraternity, national Road Race and Time Trial champion Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey outsmarted five other top riders yesterday morning, to take the second annual Roraima Bikers Club/Guyana Cycling Federation , Digicel sponsored ‘Cancer Awareness’, 80 miles cycle road race in a time of 3h. 03m: 05secs.

Also in winner’s row were Junior Niles, who successfully retained the Veteran’s title, his Team Coco’s Guyana teammate Michael Anthony, the winner of the Junior category, and Hazina Bharrat, who turned the tides on last year’s female champion Naomi Singh.
Godfrey Pollydore called on his years of experience to win a sprint dual with the evergreen Alanzo Greaves, while former national Road Race champion Orville Hinds, Geron Williams and Albert Philander, completed the top six paying positions, 12 seconds after Jeffrey crossed the line.
Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson and Ralph Williams, along with Hamza Eastman and Alonso Ambrose, finished second and third in both the Veteran’s and Junior categories, behind the respective winners in Niles and Anthony.
However, it was the efforts of the senior cyclists which set tongues wagging, from the time they moved off from the Five Corner on Sir David Rose Avenue in Linden, wherein Jeffrey, Geron Williams, Greaves and Rastaff O’Selmo made their move to the front of the peloton, leaving the other 44 starters behind.
However, O’Selmo found the pace too tough within the first 30 minutes of the event and was dropped, while Geron Williams opted to reserve his energy as they passed the entrance to the St. Cuthbert’s Mission Primary School, leaving Greaves and Jeffrey to negotiate the hilly Linden/Soesdyke highway.
Together the duo did just that and were only caught by a chasing pack that included Pollydore, Philander, Anthony, Geron Williams, Robin Persaud, Christopher Holder, Marlon Williams and the Hinds siblings in Orville and Delroy Hinds.
But not willing to let his hard work go to waste, even though it did in the end, Greaves attacked the peloton and was followed by Geron Williams, Pollydore, Philander and Orville Hinds as they approached Land of Canaan, while Jeffrey connected just before they entered Herstelling.
Together the six man peloton worked in tandem until the final lap of two around the outer circuit of the National Park, wherein Jeffrey made his move to the front just as they turned from Camp Street into Thomas Lands heading East, and never looked back to take the win and $250,000 cash prize with ease.
At the presentation ceremony which followed the event, Digicel’s Chief Executive Officer Gregory Dean congratulated the cyclists for making the event a successful one, while he promised to make next year’s event a ‘Bigger and Better’ one, in keeping with his Company’s slogan.
Dean, Digicel’s head of Marketing Jacqueline James and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Kelly all assisted with the distribution of prizes won, while Digicel’s Brand Ambassador Curtis ‘DJ Casual’ Armstrong helped with the distribution of Digicel tokens.
Meanwhile, the cyclists were asked to make a contribution prior to the start of the event, one that they did handsomely accumulating $35,000, a figure that will be matched by Digicel and handed over to the Guyana Cancer Society, who will also receive a cheque for $80,000 from the telecommunications service provider, following a donation drive from their staff.