– Greaves and Persaud to face Disciplinary Committee
LINDEN’S Orville Hinds, who finished second behind Alonso Greaves, was awarded the top position for yesterday’s 13th Annual Carlton Wheelers Cycle Club (CWCC) organised Guyoil/Castrol sponsored 50 -mile cycle road race, following the disqualification of eventual winner Alonso Greaves.
Sixty (60) cyclists, amongst whom were two females in Marica Dick and Naoimi Singh were sent on their way from the Wales Police Station and as the peloton which included, Robin Persaud, Paul De Nobrega, Warren Mc Kay, Raynauth Jeffrey, Junior Niles, Jude Bentley and Walter Grant-Stuart passed through Versailles, Persaud along with Raul Leal were thrown out their saddles.
Persaud later suffered another spill- after being brought back to the peloton by Davenand Bissoon, in Vreed-en-Hoop- both of which were blamed on Greaves for unsportsmanlike conduct, to which he was disqualified as the winner, after crossing the line ahead of Hinds and Andrew Reece in a time of 1h.55:30 secs.
Earlier in the event which was organized by national cycling coach Hassan Mohammed, Greaves, Mc Kay, Hinds, De Nobrega, Reece, Grant-Stuart, the defending champion, Enzo Matthews and Michael Anthony, made a move to the front of the peloton as they passed through Windsor Forest on the upward journey.
They increased their lead from approximately 75 metres to over two minutes as they worked in tandem, journeying to Bushy Park on the East Bank of Essequibo, where they were given the signal to turn back and head to the Demerara Harbour Bridge for the finish.
As they approached the Den Amstel Magistrate Court’s building, Greaves and De Nobrega made a move to the front and were later joined by Grant-Stuart, Anthony and Reece, leaving Mc Kay, Hinds and Matthews in their wake.
And while Mc Kay and Hinds reconnected with the front quintet at Windsor Forest, Matthews lost the will to sprint to connect to the front runners, and was eventually caught by the chasing peloton which included several prominent cyclists who were favoured to win the event.
In the sprint for the finish line, Greaves displayed his superiority over Hinds, Reece, De Nobrega, Grant Stuart and Anthony to take the event, which was later changed following Greaves’ disqualification, and seeing Mc Kay who finished seventh, moving up to the sixth position.
Of the eight sprint prizes up for grabs, Greaves and Hinds took two each, while Bentley, Matthews, De Nobrega and Reece shared the other four equally.
However, following an investigation between Mohammed and his fellow CWCC official Malcolm Sonaram-who acted as the Race Commissar for the event- it was decided to disqualify both Persaud and Greaves, hence Hinds was awarded the top position.
Raymond Newton won the veteran category, which saw the cyclists proceeding to the Uitvlugt Community Centre entrance and made their way back to the Demerara Harbour Bridge, in a time of 1.19:14secs over Stephen Fernandes and Kennard Lovell respectively.
Hamza Eastman and Singh won the Upright and Female categories that saw junior cyclists covering the same distance as the Veterans, with Nial Kingston and Garfield Lorimar finishing second and third to Eastman while Dick placed second to Singh, who had suffered a puncture in the early stages.
Walter Isaacs was the lone Over-60 cyclist to complete the journey, while De Nobrega who moved up to the third place position after Greaves’ debacle, easily retained his junior title ahead of Anthony and Raynauth Jeffrey respectively.
Meanwhile, both Greaves and Persaud will have to face the disciplinary committee of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF), who is expected to conduct an investigation involving the feud between the two cyclists, while Mohammed has threatened to place a ban on both individuals, preventing them from competing around the inner circuit of the National Park, where it all began.