DESPITE obvious signs of tiredness, Roraima Bikers Club’s (RBC) Alonzo Greaves caught a last wind to sprint away from Albert Philander, Robin Persaud and Raynauth Jeffrey and take the Flying Stars Cycle Club (FSCC)-organised Indian Arrival Day (IAD) 50 laps cycle race around the inner circuit of the National Park yesterday. Greaves’ time of 1.48:36 for the event was a testament of the pace of the race which saw the cyclists unofficially break the 35-lap record of 1:15:15, with the clock reading 1.12.51 at that stage of the race, which was used as a warm-up to this weekend’s National Sports Commission annual Independence three-stage road race and attracted 36 starters, inclusive of one female and five junior cyclists.
Greaves’ teammate Warren ‘40’ McKay, Toran Harris, Eric Sankar, Alex Menes and overseas-based Guyanese Joylyn Joseph – who returned home the night before the event – completed the top nine positions for which they received cash prizes.
The organisers offered prime prizes at the completion of every three laps, with Persaud taking home 8, Jeffrey 3, Philander 2 and Greaves, McKay and Raul Leal one each, while Leal and Akeem Arthur completed the top three positions behind Jeffrey in the junior category.
After being given the go-ahead by the starter, several mini breaks occurred during the course of the race before Greaves, Persaud and Jeffrey opened a 20-second lead on the peloton which included McKay, Philander, Joseph, Harris, Sankar, Menes and Junior Niles during the 23rd lap.
Naomi Singh who was the lone female to start the event, dropped out at the 29th lap, while Niles and Philander broke away from the peloton and joined the front trio, before Niles was involved in a spill and was forced to call it a day.
The front quartet worked in tandem to increase their lead – which reached 35 seconds at one stage – over McKay, Harris, Sankar and Menes, with Joseph leading another peloton who were 15 seconds behind the second quartet, who were lapped by the four frontrunners during lap 45.
Known as the best sprinter on the local cycling fraternity, Greaves lived up to that billing when he outsprinted the other three from the 200m mark, to ride home a comfortable winner.
The cyclists will turn their attention to the same venue again today, when they compete in the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF)-organised Ray’s Motor Spares-sponsored 40 laps race, which is also being used in preparation for this weekend’s event.