– cops an ounce of gold

INITIALLY unsure of his presence at the seventh annual Kadir Mohamed Memorial Cycling Road Race, last year’s champion, Jamaul John, made it back-to-back victories by copping this year’s event in impressive fashion.

He was part of a three-man breakaway group which included Briton ‘Screechie’ John and Andre ‘Padlock’ Green; together, the trio made good their escape from the peloton after 30 miles and never looked back.

On the homestretch, it was a sprint between Greene and John, but the latter was just too strong and crossed the finish line at least two cycle lengths ahead of Greene, to reclaim his title and the winner’s prize of an ounce of gold..

Speaking to Chronicle Sport, John revealed that he had only arrived back in Guyana two days prior to yesterday’s race, as he wanted to defend his title. He next has his eyes on the Digicel Cancer Awareness cycling meet, set for next weekend.

John also revealed that yesterday’s race went the way he wanted it to. “Racing overseas has really helped me as well; the competition level is different and that helped a lot” he posited.

Briton John had to settle for third and Curtis Dey came in fourth, ahead of Christopher Griffith (fifth) and Andrew Hicks (sixth).

John’s winning time was three hours, 15 minutes and one second. Briton John was the top Junior rider while David Hicks was the first Juvenile to cross the finish line.

In the veteran’s under-45 category, Junior Niles took top honours, while the first place finisher in the over-45 category was Ian Jackson.

Organised by the Flying Stars Cycle Club and sponsored by the Mohamed family of Bartica, the race had a total of $1M in prize money up for grabs and wheeled off at 07:00hrs from outside the National Sports Commission building on Homestretch Avenue.

The cyclists then journeyed to Dora on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway before returning to the place of origin for the finish.