BELIZE CITY, Mon. Jan. 4, 2016
Basketball news
The National Elite Basketball League (NEBL) will commence its third, annual basketball tournament on Saturday, January 16, and 8 teams are expected to participate. Those teams are: Orange Walk Running Rebels, Belize City No Limit, Belize Hurricanes, San Pedro Tiger Sharks, Belmopan Bandits, Cayo Western Ballaz, Dangriga Warriors and Independence Thunderbolts.
The opening game will feature the newly added Independence Thunderbolt versus the back-to-back defending champions, San Pedro Tiger Sharks, out of the island in San Pedro.
Cycling news – Krem Classic
The 26th annual Krem New Year’s Day Cycling Classic went down this past Friday, January 1. Elite riders took off from the Corozal border at 9:00 a.m., and shortly after, the juniors and females got rolling from Orange Walk at 9:30 and 9:35 a.m., respectively, all racing to the finish line on Central American Blvd in Belize City.
Although there were tons of station prizes all along the route in each race category, the most coveted prizes laid at the finish line, where the top 20 Elite riders and the top 3 in the Junior and Female categories would all be rewarded.
In both the Junior and Female races, 3rd place got 200 dollars and a trophy, and 2nd place got 300 and a trophy. The 1st place finisher in the Junior race received 1000 dollars, a ring valued at 800 dollars from Medina’s Jewelry, a phone package from Digicell, and a trophy; while 1st place in the Female race received 1000 dollars, a round-trip ticket to the USA from American Airlines, a ring valued at 1500 dollars from Medina’s Jewelry, a phone package from Digicell, and a trophy.
In the Elite race, riders finishing from 20th place to 4th place got cash prizes ranging from 25 dollars all the way up to 500 dollars. The 3rd place rider received 1000 dollars and a trophy; 2nd place got 1500 dollars and a trophy; and the 1st place finisher of the 2016 KREM New Year’s Day Cycling Classic received: 2500 dollars, a round-trip ticket to the USA from American Airlines, a ring valued at 2000 dollars from Medina’s Jewelry, a phone package from Digicell, and, of course, a trophy.
All the pedal by pedal action was broadcast live on Krem Radio, and the finish was also live on Krem TV.
When it was all said and done, and the dust had cleared, Ernest Bradley of Team Smart emerged as the champion, in the Junior category, as he won the sprint to take 1st place honors. Coming in 2nd place was Juhawi Ysaguirre of Cabral/Marin Cycling Team; and rounding out the top 3 was Kaydine Pinelo of Team Smart.
In the Female race, Alicia Thompson of Belize Bank Swoosh was able to successfully defend her title, as she took top honors for a 2nd consecutive year. Kaya Cattouse of C-Ray Cycling came in 2nd; and Paulita Chavarria, also of C-Ray Cycling, came in 3rd.
And in the big Elite race, none other than Joel Borland of Digicell-4G Cycling was the 1st to the finish, proving to be prophetic, as he predicted his championship performance earlier in the week. Coming in at 2nd place was Gregory “Bullet” Lovell, also of Digicell-4G; and rounding the top 3 was Byron Pope of Benny’s Megabytes.
Congrats to all the winners, and we look forward to doing it again next year.