Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships...National cycling champ Geron Williams believes the Guyana team is balanced

Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships…National cycling champ Geron Williams believes the Guyana team is balanced

Sep 30, 2014 Sports

By Franklin Wilson
Just a few weeks before Guyana’s five-man team takes aim at the podium positions at

Geron Williams competing in the USA for Stans NoTubes in his custom made Guyana uniform.

this year’s Elite Caribbean Cycling Championships slated for October 11-12 in Puerto Rico, National Road Race champion Geron believes that the Guyana team is balanced and one of the strongest at this level in a number of years.
Riding on the Pro Circuit as a member of Stans NoTubes team, Williams, a member of the Continental Cycle Club in Guyana informed Kaieteur Sport that he is currently back home to put in final preparations for the Caribbean championships.
He noted that preparations are taking shape having returned home on Wednesday last from the USA where he is based.
“Returning home last Wednesday from my season in the USA wasn’t what I had initially planned. CRCA/Foundation NYC which I rode for last year and the first half of this year’s season in the USA asked me to be a Guest rider with them at the Tobago Cycling Classic, but after having a chat with my Coach, Aubrey Bryce and a couple others of my many experienced supporters, I opted to skip this event since it may have been a bit too taxing leading up to this year’s Caribbean Championships, which is the following weekend after the Tobago Classic.”
The only Pro rider on the local scene at the moment stated that he took this past weekend off having been racing for the previous four weekends consistently. Coupled with the regular traveling and the constant change in temperatures, Williams said it began to take a toll on is immune system which caused him to catch a cold and flu.
“Having rested, I am ready to start building up for the rest of the season with my major goal being the Caribbean Championships in Puerto Rico. Next weekend I am hoping to use the races as part of my training to be able to build up towards the following weekend in Puerto Rico.”
The aim in Puerto Rico is to finish on the podium and even while acknowledging that it will be a lot of pressure; Williams noted that this is part of professional sports.
“It is a lot of pressure but I am ready to go out there and give everything I have. My season has been tedious, but I would like to think I managed my body well enough throughout the season to be able to save something for this time of the year. It will be hard and extremely testing but that’s what competition is about and I am aiming towards it.”
Williams shared a bit on what the strategy of Team Guyana would be: “In terms of strategy for our Guyana National Cycling Team, we are still to sit down as a team and discuss this, but whatever decisions are made it will be done so as a unit. Personally I think that this year we have a well balanced team and probably the best team to represent Guyana for the past couple of years.”
The rest of the Guyana side is Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey, Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams, Alanzo Greaves and Hamza Eastman who is the least experienced but has been enjoying a rewarding season so far.
Except for Eastman, the other riders were part of the Guyana team to the recently concluded Commonwealth Games. Back in Jamaica in 2011, Geron Williams placed 10th overall and one year later in Antigua and Barbuda, he placed 13th.
Whilst he was selected for last year’s championships, he was forced to drop off the team the day before departing for Curacao due to illness.
This time around, the senior riders will be going all out to emulate their junior counterparts who have been blazing the trail and finishing on the podium. Last year Guyana copped silver and bronze at the junior level and the strong team that will be led by National Road Race Champion Stephano Husbands this year in Suriname, will be going for a clean sweep.
The other members of the team are Akeem Arthur (silver – 2103), Michael Anthony (bronze – 2013) and Alanzo Ambrose. Competing in the juvenile category will be National juvenile champion Andrew Hicks and Raphael Leung.