It started out as a mildly damp morning, with signs and threat of a possible rain. But it could not have mattered much to the contingent of cyclists, 135 strong. All, including the defending champion, Shane Vasquez, had the same thing in mind, and that was to win the 79th riding of the annual Holy Saturday Cross Country Classic.
The talk on the streets was that a Belizean would win, first and foremost. Personally, of the three names that were constantly mentioned, defending champion Shane Vasquez, Mateo Cruz and Marlon Castillo, I believed that Castillo stood the least chance of claiming the garland. I was not confident that his body had recovered enough, after claiming victory in the grueling M&M Engineering Tour. But I am not a cyclist, and I could have been totally wrong.
After making final adjustments and receiving last minute instructions from the president, Melvin Torres, a single shot jeered the fans into a cheering frenzy, as the colorful pelathon began the long journey to Cayo and back.
Mother Nature threw in a strange twist. Instead of the usual south-easterly which provided tailwinds to Cayo and headwinds in the journey back, this year it was the complete opposite, with a light north-west wind maintaining throughout the race. Who would have thought that conditions were ideal for the record to be broken?
With no assistance from a tailwind, the powerful Guatemalans, led by Deivi Alejandro Ibanez of Team Café Quetzal, began their lessons in climbing.
The pelathon remained intact for most of the journey to Cayo, with the exception of a few minor casualties along the way. The first legitimate breakaway happened in Camalote, with Ibanez leading the charge along with 5 other riders. By the time the race had reached Mount Hope, the group of 6 was reduced to 2 riders, with Ibanez and Peter Choto, riding for Team C-Ray, leading by about 2 minutes.
Choto and Ibanez rode together all the way to San Ignacio, while sharing station prizes. Peter Choto took the station prize at the midway point, completing the first leg of the journey in 2:40:46, 5 minutes and 27 seconds longer than the record set by Mateo Cruz back in 1999.
When the lead had increased to 4 minutes, that was when the Guatemalans, riding for Team Santino’s, decided to take action. Ibanez had since dropped Choto along the way in Esperanza, and was not caught until he reached Roaring Creek. The events had put a good hurting on the field, which had lessened considerably.
At around Mile 42, Shane Vasquez, of Western Spirit, and Mexican Juan Manuel Sandoval, of ACROS Guinness Smiling Meats, ran for about 4 miles. But the lead was short-lived, as they were reeled in and eventually replaced by Jose Choto, of Team C-Ray, and Ismael Ponce, of ACROS Guinness Smiling Meats. Ponce and Choto rode all the way to about Mile 17. During that time, Ponce experienced a puncture to his back wheel, but he was back in action quickly, after his service team made one of the fastest wheel-changes in Belize. Ponce eventually dropped Choto at around Mile 13, and began with a serious solo-ride.
All the while, there was some serious shuffling going on in the chase group. With Marlon Castillo, Ernest “Jaw Meighan” Meighan and some other key riders gone from the chase, the possibility was there for anyone to make the big move.
A group of 15 strong, led by Guatemalans Lizandro Ajuc and Luis Marroquin, of Team Santino’s, led the chase and caught Ponce around the Mile 4 checkpoint. This group also included the likes of Shane Vasquez, Mateo Cruz, Giovanni Leslie, Anthony Taylor and Roger Troyer, to name a few.
But after subsequent attacks, only 9 riders entered the Marion Jones Stadium (Sports Complex). This was quite unusual, because the last time a group this large had come in together was back in 1999.
In the stadium, Shane Vasquez did most of the pacing, and basically set the table for his American teammate, Boyd Johnson. Vasquez is not known as a sprinter, and made the most unselfish decision, and chose team over self and country. Unlike Mateo Cruz and Anthony Taylor, who were known to be dangerous sprinters, Johnson, who had placed 32nd in the overall standings in the M&M Engineering Tour, was virtually unknown. And as they made the final turn, Johnson turned on his afterburners and crossed the finish line in record fashion at 5:47:33, to claim the garland and break the hearts of all Belizeans. (The previous record of 5:48:06 was held by American Chris Harkey in 2004.)
Anthony Taylor, riding for M&M Engineering, came in second place. Mexican Ismael Ponce, riding for ACROS Guinness Smiling Meats, came in third; while Guatemalan Miguel Angel Diaz, riding for Café Quetzal, finished in fourth. Roger Troyer of Team Sagitun was the first Belizean to cross the finish line, in fifth place. Mateo Cruz of Team Santino’s was the second Belizean to finish, in seventh place; followed by last year’s champion, Shane Vasquez of Team Western Spirit, in ninth place.