In this Sonnell Nelson photo are Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Warren ‘40’ McKay and Director of Sport Neil Kumar (seated left to right) and the respective winners who were also successful in the event.
Eric Sankar, however, claimed this stage of the 28th edition of the annual event with Phillip Piggot and Walter Grant Stuart trailing him to claim the second and third positions in respect of that order.
Suriname’s Murvin Aruinjo’s performances earned the runner-up spot as his times for the three stages were combined to give an overall time of 7:05:27.
Aruinjo, who was also an outstanding performer at the Inter-Guiana Games, did fairly well over the two days of competition as he placed third in the second stage and was able to maintain his overall rank of second place throughout the competition.
Geron Williams came in third overall with his time of 7:05:29 after finishing fifth and fourth places in the first and second legs in respect of that order.
He too was able to maintain his overall position of third that he held going into yesterday’s final stage. Williams also received a special performance award as did Walter Grant Stuart for the open category.
Veteran rider Raymond Newton finished fourth place overall with his time of 7:06:38 and also received the veteran’s special performance prize.
The defending champion Alonzo Greaves was the fifth place finisher overall with his time of 7:08:06. Paul DeNobrega received the junior prize for special performances while the champion, McKay, was the senior awardee for the special performances prize.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony in his remarks which were voiced during the presentation ceremony stressed the fundamental basis of the three-stage race which is part of the independence celebrations.
He gave commendation to overseas based Guyanese rider and Olympian Aubrey Bryce who is the current World Masters Champion. Dr. Anthony also said that it was pleasing to see the massive influx of entrants, a percentage of who were foreigners.
The Minister highlighted the five stage race and the Ride for Life, which are the next big events on the local cycling calendar, and encouraged the foreigners to participate in those events as well.
Dr. Anthony also touched on the fact that infrastructure in sports is currently having a heyday as he mentioned that many projects are currently underway, including a synthetic track for the athletics fraternity and the Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The minister made it known that a bank track for the Guyana Cycling Federation is also a possibility and he encouraged those in charge of the Guyana Cycling Federation to get active in the realisation of that dream.