YOUNG Berbician cyclist, Romello Crawford, persevered through six gruelling hours of riding in the blistering sun on Guyana’s roadways to be crowned the overall winner of the 2019 LFS Burnham Memorial Three-stage cycling road race yesterday.

Action began at 7:00hrs in the second stage from Linden to Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown. With a 20-second lead on his nearest rival, Crawford placed in the top 10 finishers to maintain a slender lead. The second stage was won by Andre Greene while Paul DeNobrega, Andrew Hicks and Briton John were second, third and fourth, respectively.

In the third stage from Homestretch Avenue to Belfield on the East Coast of Demerara and back, Crawford sealed the deal by crossing the finish line ahead of Cortis Dey, Geron Williams and Christopher Griffith.

Crawford’s combined time of 6 hours, 9 minutes and 25 seconds proved to be enough as Williams was just 10 seconds behind in 6 hours, 9 minutes and 35 seconds to claim second place.

Andrew Hicks was third overall (6 hours, 10 minutes, and 34 seconds) while Briton John (6 hours, 10 minutes, and 36 seconds), Cortis Dey (6 hours, 10 minutes, and 46 seconds) and Christopher Griffith (6 hours, 11 minutes, and 10 seconds) placed fourth to sixth, in that order.

In the veterans’ category, Junior Niles claimed top honours with his time of 6 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds while Paul Cho Wee Nam (6 hours, 26 minutes, and 3 seconds) and Jaikarran Sukhai (6 hours, 26 minutes, and 46 seconds) were second and third, respectively.

Another young Berbician, Ralph Seenarine, captured the Junior title, finishing the three stages in six hours, 22 minutes, and 28 seconds while Jason Sampson (6 hours, 38 minutes, and 38 seconds) and Kevin Ross (7 hours, one minute and 22 seconds) were second and third.

Michael Anthony and Cortis Dey captured four sprint prizes each while Jornell Yearwood, Crawford, Briton John, Paul DeNobrega, Alanzo Ambrose, Deeraj Garbarran and Junior Niles copped one apiece.