Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships 2016 – Road Race...Administrative glitches and absence of Coach cost Guyana podium spot

Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships 2016 – Road Race…Administrative glitches and absence of Coach cost Guyana podium spot

Aug 01, 2016 Sports

By Franklin Wilson in St. Lucia compliments of
Fazia’s Collection, Fitness Express and Germans Restaurant

The absence of Guyana’s Coach Randolph Roberts at yesterday’s Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships (JCCC) Road Race, which attracted the most countries ever in the history of the event, severely affected the young Guyanese chances of medaling in the Junior category which was their pet event.

Dejected bunch!
The Guyana junior riders and Manager all exhausted
and disappointed after the road race yesterday in St. Lucia.

The four riders, Christopher Cornelius who placed 16th overall in 2h21’32″69 with Andrew Hicks 18th in 2h21’39″46, Raphael Leung 19th(2h21’48″28) and Jornel Yearwood 28th(2h21’55″42) of 37 finishers, while 13 did not complete the distance including four of the six host nation riders.
In fact, Yearwood was well placed with two laps to go and was in the lead pack of 5 but due to not being fed water on a humid afternoon he started to cramp up and was eventually sucked in and dropped by his rivals.
His teammates, Cornelius, Leung and Hicks tried their utmost to protect him {Yearwood} by keeping the chasing pack under control but that didn’t work out as they too suffered as a result of lack of hydration as a result of not having enough manpower to assist.
Manager, Marc Sonaram who followed the race in a car provided by the St. Lucia Cycling Association was not allowed to feed his cyclists and there was no cooperation from the feeders on motor cycles for the Guyanese riders despite their pleas to assist.
They quartet informed Kaieteur Sport that they even gave their water bottles to the motorcyclists but was never given them back as it went to other riders.
The race, which was reduced by one lap to 7 around the 12.4KM Vieux Fort Laborie Highway / Vieux Fort La Resource Circuit, was eventually won by Phaeton Collins of Guadeloupe who clocked 2h 18’53″36 outsprinting Martinique’s Jordan Plumbert (2h18’53″71) and Deloumeaux also of Guadeloupe who was timed at 2h18’56″73 for the gold, silver and bronze.
The fourth place went to Alban Clerc of French St Martin in 2h18’58″96, the other rider who was on the break with Yearwood and the top three.
Collins had one day before took the bronze medal in the Time Trials while Plumbert was 11th.
Guyana’s lone competitor in the juvenile 5-lap race, Zaman Khan on debut, was always going to find it an uphill task competing against nations that had their full complement of 4-riders each.
He tried his best and managed to place 31st out of 34 competitors that completed the race, 4 riders didn’t.
Khan was timed at 1h58’02″97. The gold medal in this category was taken by Trinidad and Tobago’s Jabari Whiteman who maintained the trend of the Individual Time Trial bronze medalists, taking gold in the Road Race. He clocked 1h41’01″27 to win from Sebastien Arcade (1h41’01″83) of Martinique and Kianny Noel (1h41’01″91) of French St. Martin.
In the female race, it was almost like the Junior segment where the bronze medalist in the Time Trials stormed to victory in the Road Race.
Puerto Rico’s Jougna Baez-Jimenez topped her colleagues which numbered six, with one not finishing, to take the gold medal in the 4-lap contest in 1h38’00″59 relegating the gold medalist in the Time Trials, Alyssa Rowse of Bermuda to the silver medal in 1h38’01″00 in a close sprint home.
Another Puerto Rican, the Time Trials silver medalist, Charliette Golderos-Truillio had to settle for the bronze medal in 1h38’01″08.
Sonaram in summing up the local cyclists performances said that Khan did his best and battled to finish the event which was great. “With more training and exposure, he can do better.”
He noted that the junior riders also did well but lamented the fact that the coach, Randolph Roberts was unavailable complaining of feeling unwell due to a headache.
“All four juniors fought well and they also completed the distance in challenging conditions. A crash made a break open and it was hard for them to catch up back. We had a good opportunity but lack of assistance on the road created a few problems,” Sonaram informed.
He also noted that there was no assistance to feed his riders from the motorcycle assistants which cost Guyana medals. “I couldn’t feed from the car but motorcycles were allowed to do so but we got no help.”