Women’s Road Race
The race was 8 laps of a 14 km (8.694 miles) course, for a total of 112 km (69.552 miles). There were 59 athletes from 16 countries registered.
Shalini Zabaneh rode the race, but due to the technical nature of the course (13 corners) was unable to be competitive. She was dropped on the first lap, and stopped in the feeding zone 300 meters before the end of the first lap.
The medal winners were: Gold: Rochelle Gilmore (Australia), avg. speed 39.646 km/h (24.62 mph); Silver: Elizabeth Armitstead (England); Bronze: Chloe Hosking (Australia).
There were 38 finishers of 58 starters, with the last rider 00:19:14 behind the winner.
Men’s Road Race
The race was 12 laps of a 14 km course for a total of 168 km (104.328 miles). There were 133 athletes from 33 countries registered.
Greg Lovell, Edgar Arana, Jairo Campos, Byron Pope and Brandon Cattouse, in this order, competed with the following results:
Greg Lovell – 26th place; 00:05:24 behind the winner; 12th finisher by country out of 33 countries; was best in the Caribbean, with only Namibia and South Africa from the African countries with better finishers. Finish by country order was: Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Isle of Man, Wales, Namibia, England, South Africa, Guernsey, Belize.)
Edgar Arana – 46th place; 00:16:26 behind the winner.
Jairo Campos – Completed 9 laps before being removed from the race.
Byron Pope – Completed 8 laps before being removed from the race.
Brandon Cattouse – Had a flat in the 2nd lap, and completed 7 laps before being removed from the race.
The medal winners were: Gold: Allan Davis (Australia), avg. speed 43.864 km/h (27.240 mph); Silver:
Hayden Roulston (New Zealand); Bronze: David Millar (Scotland).
There were 52 finishers of 133 starters, with the last rider 00:16:26 behind the winner.
Special Mention
The air quality in the City of New Dehli is very polluted, and as a result of the pollution, all our athletes had varying respiratory difficulties/illnesses, with the worst being Byron Pope, who contracted the flu as well. Notwithstanding this, the team persevered daily in training to acclimatize to the conditions present. They were and are a cohesive unit, their major strength being selfless teamwork. Through this teamwork, we were able to make history for our country Belize in getting not one but two finishers in the race (Our first goal). We were the best of the Caribbean, with only Canada being better in the western hemisphere
(Our second goal).
As the attending National Coach/Manager, I would like to thank firstly the athletes for their dedication and perseverance in the preparation leading up to this event; the Belize Olympic & Commonweatlth Games Committee for providing full financial and logistic support to the contingent; and last but not least, the Belize Cycling Association for the opportunity to represent them in the stated capacity. We are now officially on the world map in Cycling, and I hope we are able to achieve continued progress in the time to come.
Our next event will be the Individual Time Trial on the 13th October in which we will be fielding 1 female and 3 males.
(Ed. Note: The temperature at the start of the Men’s Road Race on October 10 at 1:00 p.m. was reportedly 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in New Delhi; it was 30 degrees C (84 degrees F) when the Women’s race began earlier the same day at 9:00 a.m.)