On Sunday morning, July 25th, a group of eager cycling enthusiasts, all affiliates of the Anguilla Amateur Cycling Association, gathered on the grounds of FLOW in The Valley to begin the annual 2021 John T. Memorial Cycling Race.
The yearly event which normally involves participants from several neighbouring islands was critically streamlined to involve only local cyclists due to restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some 30 local cyclists, comprising six categories, embarked on a route that began at FLOW headed north, and turned east at the Webster Park roundabout.
The route passed the traffic light at Lake’s Haberdashery and continued east toward the Sandy Hill roundabout where a turn was made to head back west. The race followed down to the Webster’s roundabout, and headed south, pass FLOW, on the way down to West End at King Iah. There a turn was made at the ditch to head back east, taking the route into Sandy Ground. In Sandy Ground, a final turn was made at the intersection at Road Bay Customs, then headed back to the start/finish line at FLOW. That route constituted one full lap.
Before the race began, The Anguillian spoke to the President of the John T. Memorial Cycling Race, Mrs. Sharon Richardson-Lowe. She began: “The John T. Memorial Cycling Race is held in the memory of the Late John Thomas, better known as “John T”, who had a great interest in cycling and contributed much to its development as a sport in Anguilla. John T died on March 13th 1991 at the age of 49. The race is held in the month of July each year to commemorate John T’s birthday.”
Sharon continued: “Due to Covid-19, we have not had a race since July 2019. We would normally have other islands joining us to be part of this grand cycling event, but, due to Covid-19, we can only compete in a race among ourselves today in order to keep the tradition alive.” She confirmed that 30 local cyclists participated in Sunday’s races with no participation from overseas cyclists.
Sharon noted: “There are six catergories in the race today. The Elite category will do three laps which amount to over 100 kilometers. The Juniors and Masters would do two laps, and the Cadet and Novice categories would do one lap.” She went on: “There is also a Sport category which was introduced to encourage regular cyclists to compete. This category will do the shortest race which will be from the starting point here at FLOW to the Sandy Hill roundabout and back here at the start/finish line.”
The races ended shortly after 3 o’clock on Sunday afternoon. The results were as follows: In the Masters category, 2nd place was taken by Ronnie Bryan, and 1st place was won by Desron Bynoe. In the Elite category, 3rd place went to Huekeemi Hughes, second place to Delroy Carty and 1st place to Zambezi Richardson. In the Cadets category, in third place was Kaysean Lake, in 2nd place was Hector Rogers, and 1st place was won by Kayden Bryan. In the Novice category 2nd place was taken by Raoul Rodriquez and 1st place by Allyndel Sylvester. In the Juniors category Mickhi Carty took 2nd place and Cailan Fleming – 1st place. And in the Sports category Lawrence Stott took 3rd place, Craig Emmanuel – 2nd and Carvin Proctor – 1st place.
