Jamual John wins ‘One Guyana’ Bartica Cycling Classic

By Danielle Swain

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Jamual John, now a member of We Stand United Cycling Club, claimed a convincing victory in the second ‘One Guyana’ Bartica Cycling Classic in central Bartica on Sunday.

Initially forming part of a breakaway group that whittled down to a one-two partnership with defending champion Briton John, Jamual, formerly of Team Foundation, crossed the finish line alone after a late puncture and rule-breaking decision from Briton resulted in his disqualification.

Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle attended the National Sports Commission (NSC) supported event, stating in brief remarks that the Bartica Classic embodied the government’s ‘One Guyana’ vision by bringing the sport to more Guyanese.

In addition, Ninvalle reiterated the Commission’s support of cycling through the annual Three-Stage cycling event and signalled his intention to bring back the Five-Stage that previously attracted cycling teams from the Caribbean.

Sunday’s event included several categories of races: Veteran, Senior, Junior, Juvenile, Female and BMX categories and was organised by the We Stand United Cycling Club (WSUCC) in association with the Mayor and Town Council of Bartica.

Mayor of Bartica, Gifford Marshall shared that “we have a number of social issues here with our young people, so we wanted to provide an opportunity for them to be meaningfully involved and engaged. Sports in general provides an opportunity for tourism, and [this] is good for our local economy”

Horace Burrowes, former President of the Guyana Cycling Federation and Chairman of the WSUCC was grateful for the support from all the sponsors and plans to “raise the bar” on what will now be an annual event.

Burrowes shared raising the bar meant a bigger prize structure and “bringing more international cyclists in to participate in this event and getting more cyclists involved from throughout the country.”

The Bartica Classic was a criterium race that started and ended at Futu Square and followed a closed circuit with eight corners and a challenging climb of one of Bartica’s many hills.

A criterium is a fast-paced, spectator-friendly, multi-lap event contested on a closed course (usually in a city) where laps are typically a mile or less with four to six corners.

Racers do a pre-determined number of laps or race for a pre-determined amount of time – ranging between 30 to 90 minutes. In the end, the first rider across the line wins.

The event started at 10:30h with the Juvenile and Junior race categories. Cyclists rode for 45 minutes with an additional two laps. Aaron Newton of WSUCC placed first in the Junior category and Bartician Torrel Noel, first in the Juvenile division.

Newton also participated in the senior event and placed third overall.

The female race had an adjusted course of four laps with no climb. Clivecia Spencer of Team Coco denied promising newcomer Tandy Noel from Bartica and Kaieteur Attack victory with a time of 19:45:30s.

The senior and veteran categories ran together with cyclists riding for one hour, plus two laps. Robin Persaud of Team Evolution placed first in the Under-50 category and Ian Jackson of Flying Stars was first in the Over-50 category.

The classic ended with male and female BMX races for cyclists under 12 years, sponsored by St. Michael’s Private School.

The ‘One Guyana’ Bartica Classic Cycle Race was sponsored by the National Sports Commission, Industrial and Safety Supplies Inc, Fazia’s Collection, The Trophy Stall, Bartica Regatta Committee, Burrowes Construction and the Mayor and Town Council of Bartica.

Results

Senior Results

1. Jamual John (We Stand United)
2. Curtis Dey (Evolution)
3. Aaron Newton (We Stand United)
4. Christopher Griffith (Evolution)
5. Sherwin Sampson (Team Alanis)
6. Arjune Sookhai (Kaieteur Attack)

Veterans Under-50 Results

1. Robin Persaud (Evolution)

Veterans Over-50 Results

1. Ian Jackson (Flying Ace)

Junior Results

1. Aaron Newtown (We Stand United)
2. Alexander Leung (We Stand United)
3. Sebastian Nathan (Kaieteur Attack)
4. Zinedine Dos Santos (Bartica)

Juvenile Results

1. Torrell Noel (Bartica)
2. Jerone Ghainie (Kaieteur Attack/Bartica)
3. Joshua Farley (Bartica)
4. Marcus Lewis (Bartica)

Female Results

1. Clivecia Spencer (Team Coco)
2. Tandy Noel (Kaieteur Attack/Bartica)
3. Razaiha Robertson (Bartica)