BELIZE CITY, Sat. Apr. 21, 2018– Thirty-one riders lined up today for Chief’s Saturday Race, which started at 7:15 a.m. from Leslie’s to Boom Village Junction and back to Old Belize, for 38 miles. These were made up of 21 Elites, 9 Weekend Warriors, and Tevin Chaplin as the solitary Junior. Despite having only 21 Elites, though, ALL the brand names were here, including Giovanni Lovell and Oscar Quiroz, fresh from the Commonwealth Games in Australia, and they seemed hungry.
Right out of the blocks, a 6-man break formed, including Ernest “Peenie” Bradley and Greg Lovell of Digicell. At Bardon Creek Bridge, just 4 miles into the race, the chase was on in earnest by the “Heads of State” leaving bodies scattered all over the road. By the time we got to the Central Prison, only 5 Weekend Warriors remained; but the Big Boys now had the front runners in their gunsights, and the pace jumped from 28 to 32 m.p.h. Three Weekend Warriors immediately suffered the consequences of same, being Alvan Gillett, Vallan Symms and yours truly. This left only Dwayne Wade and Daniel Cano of Team Santino’s as the 2 remaining Weekend Warriors. Meanwhile, the Junior, Tevin Chaplin took the station prize at Prison going, and Brandon secured it on the return.
As the vastly reduced peloton headed to the finish line, every rider that remained was hoping for a lucky break; but there was no sustained breakaway today. With 500 meters to the finish, Brandon Cattouse, the best sprinter in the field, did the UNUSUAL by not waiting for the SPRINT, and attacked the reduced peloton. He hit them on the button. Everyone hesitated, and before they knew it, Brandon was securing the victory. Meanwhile, his teammate, the youngster Joshua Fuller, a recent graduate to the Elite ranks, showed that he is indeed a sprinter to be reckoned with, taking 2nd place and beating Gregory “The Bullet” Lovell, who had to settle for 3rd today. Delawn Abraham took 4th, Byron Pope 5th, Brandon Morgan 6th, Darien Anderson 7th, and Oscar Quiroz got 8th. Only 2 Weekend Warriors finished – Dwayne Wade, who got 1st, and Daniel Cano who took 2nd.
See you next week; same place, same time, guys.