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DESPITE being forced to ride through the early morning showers in Georgetown yesterday morning, Team Guyana’s male and female cycling teams dominated their Surinamese counterparts to take the Team Time Trial around the inner circuit of the National Park, before returning to the road to confirm their dominance, by taking both categories in the 36- mile event. With only skipper Marica Dick and Tushawanna Doris being selected to represent the home team at cycling in the first leg of this year’s Inter-Guiana Games, the duo worked in tandem to eclipse Suriname’s Leanza Oosthuizan, Zulaskha Burnet and Tamia Sliqwyaarv’s time of 9m.31:96secs for the three-lap event, completing the distance in a time of 8m.04:81secs.
Up next were the boys who were required to ride six laps for their time trial and with the visitors winning the coin toss to go first, their quartet in Melvin Geigevlict, Leroy Yzer, Isah Hardenbol and Orson Awanna took 14m.42:93 seconds to complete the journey.
Amidst the heavy rainfall, Guyana’s top four junior cyclists in Raynauth Jeffrey, Paul De Nobrega, Michael Anthony and Raul Leal displayed the talent that earned them creditable performances in the recently concluded five-stage cycle road race while defending their home turf, completing their six laps in a time of 12m.17:20secs.
Kudos must be given to national cycling coach Hassan Mohamed and his support team, that included statistician Joseph Britton, William Howard, Malcolm Sonaram and Geron Williams, who pointed out to the Guyanese the style of riding that was being displayed by their opponents and called for and received teamwork from both teams.
Both the female and male Surinamese riders rode the Team Time Trial as if they were competing in a race and at one point during the male six-lap event, the team’s management committee was forced to have the frontrunners slow their pace to accommodate the other two who were approximately 800 metres behind – a move that saw more time being added on to the clock.
Following the opening ceremony which was held earlier in the day at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the cyclists turned their attention to the West Demerara carriageway, a route that is well known to the Guyanese, especially the quartet that made up the male team, and they did not hesitate to confirm such.
The distance was 36 miles, which saw them pedal off from Nismes, proceed to Vergenoegen and back to the place of origin for the finish, where Dick took the top podium spot in a time of 1h.19m: 39secs, with Doris finishing second and Oosthuizan third.
The boys were sent on their way five minutes after their female counterparts, but just as they entered the village of Bagotville, misfortune plagued Team Guyana when Anthony was forced to pull out of the event, due to a burst chain, just after Leal and Jeffrey made a move to the front of the eight-man field.
Shortly after, De Nobrega the reigning Caribbean Junior cycling champion and Team Guyanas skipper, suffered a puncture to his back wheel and after a quick change, caught up with the four Surinamese who made up the chasing peloton.
Their efforts to catch Jeffrey and Leal were in vain as the front duo worked in tandem to increase their lead to close to five minutes, connecting with their female counterparts as they approached Windsor Forest.
They never looked back from there onwards, leaving Dick in their wake as they head to the turn-back point at Vergenoegen, took the directions for the rest of the journey and headed home, with Leal taking the event by a half bicycle length from Jeffrey in a time of 1h. 37m: 19secs.
Jeffrey claimed third, crossing the finish line and stopping the clock at 1h.57m: 08secs and he was followed by Geigevlict of Suriname who completed the distance 45 seconds after Jeffrey, with his teammates Awanna, Hardenbol and Yzer bringing up the rear.
Up next were the boys who were required to ride six laps for their time trial and with the visitors winning the coin toss to go first, their quartet in Melvin Geigevlict, Leroy Yzer, Isah Hardenbol and Orson Awanna took 14m.42:93 seconds to complete the journey.
Amidst the heavy rainfall, Guyana’s top four junior cyclists in Raynauth Jeffrey, Paul De Nobrega, Michael Anthony and Raul Leal displayed the talent that earned them creditable performances in the recently concluded five-stage cycle road race while defending their home turf, completing their six laps in a time of 12m.17:20secs.
Kudos must be given to national cycling coach Hassan Mohamed and his support team, that included statistician Joseph Britton, William Howard, Malcolm Sonaram and Geron Williams, who pointed out to the Guyanese the style of riding that was being displayed by their opponents and called for and received teamwork from both teams.
Both the female and male Surinamese riders rode the Team Time Trial as if they were competing in a race and at one point during the male six-lap event, the team’s management committee was forced to have the frontrunners slow their pace to accommodate the other two who were approximately 800 metres behind – a move that saw more time being added on to the clock.
Following the opening ceremony which was held earlier in the day at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the cyclists turned their attention to the West Demerara carriageway, a route that is well known to the Guyanese, especially the quartet that made up the male team, and they did not hesitate to confirm such.
The distance was 36 miles, which saw them pedal off from Nismes, proceed to Vergenoegen and back to the place of origin for the finish, where Dick took the top podium spot in a time of 1h.19m: 39secs, with Doris finishing second and Oosthuizan third.
The boys were sent on their way five minutes after their female counterparts, but just as they entered the village of Bagotville, misfortune plagued Team Guyana when Anthony was forced to pull out of the event, due to a burst chain, just after Leal and Jeffrey made a move to the front of the eight-man field.
Shortly after, De Nobrega the reigning Caribbean Junior cycling champion and Team Guyanas skipper, suffered a puncture to his back wheel and after a quick change, caught up with the four Surinamese who made up the chasing peloton.
Their efforts to catch Jeffrey and Leal were in vain as the front duo worked in tandem to increase their lead to close to five minutes, connecting with their female counterparts as they approached Windsor Forest.
They never looked back from there onwards, leaving Dick in their wake as they head to the turn-back point at Vergenoegen, took the directions for the rest of the journey and headed home, with Leal taking the event by a half bicycle length from Jeffrey in a time of 1h. 37m: 19secs.
Jeffrey claimed third, crossing the finish line and stopping the clock at 1h.57m: 08secs and he was followed by Geigevlict of Suriname who completed the distance 45 seconds after Jeffrey, with his teammates Awanna, Hardenbol and Yzer bringing up the rear.
