The Virgin Islands Cycling Federation held its first road race of the season in Freedom City on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 9. Over 30 local cyclists competed in the LaGrange Circuit Race, which is a multi-lap race with four racing categories covering 45, 27 or 13.5 miles.
Elite cyclists Mark Defour and Apolinar Acevedo Jr., who have been training together for the past few weeks, teased their competitors for five of ten laps before they separated themselves from the group by lap six and finished the 45-mile race in 1st and 2nd, respectively. Narian Gentius was third.
The Expert category rode consistently until a group of five cyclists made a decisive move in lap five. They stayed together, sharing the pull and guessing each other’s moves, until the sixth and final lap. Veteran Tom Guthrie made that decision after recovering from an earlier crash, but he was edged out with 10 meters to go by Miguel "Magic" Cruz for the top spot. Sue Brown was third.
Newcomer Tony Pimentel remained unchallenged in the 13.5-mile Sport category race. Pimentel finished in 43mins 32secs, over one minute ahead of second and third place finishers Edwin Cruz and Valentino Gario. The small Master’s category was lead by Frank "Bashie" Warden, who finished the three-lap, 13.5-mile course in a time of 46mins 51secs.
The next race on the schedule is the Women-only Time Trial at 7 a.m. on Sunday, Feb 16. The course will run from Divi Hotel to the former Cafe Kaleidoscope. For more information, call 332-6282.