BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Sept. 13, 2012
Cycling fans lined the route on Albert and Regent Streets on Sunday, September 9, to witness another exciting Belize City Council (BCC) September Celebrations Criterium Classic, which featured races in various categories, including a preliminary series of races under the City Council’s Youth Development Program for youths as young as 7 years old.
The Youth Development Program youth races were sponsored by BTL, and had the 7-9 year olds racing from House of Culture to the Finish line in front of the Scotiabank parking lot on Regent Street; 10-11 year olds did 2 laps around the Regent/Albert Street circuit; and the 12-14 years and Open Youth races went 3 laps around the circuit.
In the BCC September Criterium Classic, Females as well as Weekend Warriors Cat 4/5 did 16 laps around the Albert/Regent Street circuit; Junior cyclists did 20 laps; and the big Open Senior/Elite/Masters race that climaxed the afternoon covered 30 laps.
At the end of all the races, medals, trophies and cash prizes (except for youths) were issued to the winners, as well as a number of cash prizes for particular Lap leaders throughout the circuits.
There were a couple anxious moments for fans when a stray dog seemed bent on crossing the street from Belize Bank across to William Quan, moments before the roaring peloton came sweeping around the Market Square curve from Regent into Albert Street. Luckily, fans succeeded in putting the dog in check. Perhaps some chains should be made available in future races to secure any stray dog that shows up for the excitement.
Here are the race results:
Youth Development Program
7 – 9 years: 1st Christopher Anderson, 2nd Derrick Chavarria, 3rd Derrick Brown, 4th Edward Matus, 5th Malcolm Murillo, 6th Deon O’Brien, 7th Kiran Westby.
10 – 11 years: 1st Ernest “Bonzo” Faber, 2nd Paulita Chavarria, 3rd Jamie Muschamp, 4th Chauncy Broaster, 5th Jaheem Moguel, 6th Sean Young.
12 – 14 years: 1st Andrew Green, 2nd Ritchie Williams, 3rd Derrick Chavarria, 4th Aaron Meighan, 5th Deshay O’Conner, 6th Ernest “Bonzo” Faber, 7th Johnny Abraham.
Open Youth Race: 1st Andrew Green, 2nd Deshay O’Conner, 3rd Roque Matus, Jr., 4th Ernest “Bonzo” Faber, 5th Jamie Muschamp, 6th Chauncey Broaster, 7th Zenrich Ramos.
BCC September Criterium Classic
Females – 1st Patricia Chavarria, 2nd Kaya Cattouse, 3rd Shalini Zabaneh, 4th Kerah Eiley; Lap 10 – Patricia Chavarria.
Weekend Warriors – 1st Ernest Meighan, 2nd Wilbert Jones, 3rd Liam Stewart, 4th Dwight Lopez, 5th Fred Usher; Lap 5 – Wilbert Jones; Lap 10 – Ernest Meighan.
Juniors – 1st Giovanni Lovell, 2nd Joel Borland, 3rd Oscar Quiroz; Lap 5 – Oscar Quiroz; Lap 10 – Giovanni Lovell; Lap 15 – Giovanni Lovell.
Open – 1st Gregory Lovell, 2nd Byron Pope, 3rd Brandon Cattouse, 4th Allen Castillo, 5th Leroy Casasola; Lap 5 – Herman Requena; Lap 9 – Byron Pope; Lap 14 – Gregory Lovell; Lap 19 – Byron Pope; Lap 24 – Gregory Lovell; Lap 27 – Byron Pope.
After sharing the lead through the latter half of the race, Gregory and Byron ended the race in a thrilling sprint that involved a little bit of controversy, as Byron claimed Greg swerved across the street in front of him, forcing him to slow down to avoid a collision.
1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place received $200.00, $100.00 and $50.00, in that order, for the Females, Weekend Warriors/4-5, and Junior races, with Lap prizes of $15.00 each; while for the big Open race, 1st place received $850.00, 2nd got $500.00, 3rd $300.00, 4th $175.00, and 5th $100.00, in addition to Lap prizes ranging from $25.00 to $100.00 each.
Fans enjoyed the “close-up” view of their cycling stars in action, and some commented that more frequent races of this type would be welcomed.