… Hicks, Newton, Husbands and Fraser-Greene also victorious

COMMONWEALTH Games selectee and Continental Cycle Club’s ace rider Geron Williams rode a tactical race yesterday morning in sweltering conditions to claim the senior category of the 2014 Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) Road Race championship in a time of 4h. 25m: 02secs.
Williams took the top podium spot in a sprint away from his namesake and another Commonwealth Games selectee in Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams, while defending champion Raynauth Jeffrey, who was made to work hard by his competitors especially Marlon Williams, finished third.
Other category winners yesterday morning were juvenile champions Andrew Hicks (1h. 45m: 58secs), junior champion Stephano Husbands (2h. 31: 23secs), veteran O-45 Raymond Newton (1h. 56m: 06secs) and female champion in Claire Fraser-Greene (2h. 00m: 13secs).
After being sent on their way in overcast conditions the 16 senior cyclists, among whom were the top three finishers along with Robin Persaud, Paul DeNobrega, Christopher Holder, Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, Warren ‘40’ McKay and Hamza Eastman, worked together as a unit on the upward journey.
A break by Enzo Matthews as he made his way through Farm on the East Bank of Demerara, saw him being joined later by Eastman and Andre Abdool and they worked together to hold a lead of close to three minutes on the main peloton.
However, as they passed through Loo Creek on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, Matthews found the pace too hot to handle and called it a day approximately three miles from the turn-back point, leaving Abdool and Eastman to take such orders from Race Commissar Malcolm Sonoran, which when taken saw Abdool pick up a puncture and being left behind by Eastman.
The saying ‘the race is not for the swift but he that endures to the end’, could certainly be applied to Eastman who blew a three-minute lead on his opponents and was caught as they entered Hauraruni, as the three top finishers, along with DeNobrega, Persaud, Mario ‘Pigeon’ King and others connected.
Together they worked their way through the breezy highway on the downward journey and despite Persaud making a solo move to the front as they sped along the now busy East Bank Demerara carriageway it was all in vain as he was wheeled in.
At Diamond, Orville Hinds appeared to call it quits but being cheered on by his team handlers. He dug deep and reconnected with the pack at Eccles, while shortly after, Holder, who seemed down and dusted also dug deep and found a second wind to reconnect with the frontrunners at Houston.
Jeffrey, who along with Fraser-Greene, Alanzo Greaves and Scott Savory, makes up the cycling contingent for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, tried to make a move but a determined Marlon Williams stuck to his back wheel.
In the sprint for home, Geron Williams, who recently returned from the United States of America, outsprinted his namesake Marlon Williams, who decided to give up his personal duel with Jeffrey, who finished third.
In the Veterans category, Newton finished ahead of Shameer Baksh and Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson who were 2m: 04secs slower, while Akeem Arthur and Alonzo Ambrose all clocked the same time with Husbands, after losing out in the sprint battle to the newly crowned champion.
The same can be said for Raphael Leung and Romello Crawford, who clocked the same time as Hicks, but lost their sprint battle, while Fraser-Greene, who lost her title in this event to Naomi Singh last year, returned with a dominant bang, winning by 42m: 18secs over Teshawna Doris who was 18m: 43secs faster than the third-placer Crystal Lambert.

(By Calvin Roberts)