Hot Action Down South....Under the Rain....

In what will most likely be the last official race of the 2009 racing season, the Sagitun Banana Classic held in the deep southern belt of the banana industry saw many cyclists congregate in Independence Village for what turned out to be quite a competitive event. Under cloudy skies and rain, the organizers still managed to put off three nice races in the Junior, Master (cat. 4/5) and Elite/U-23 categories, offering nice cash prizes along the way.

The Team Zamir and Sugar City Starz guys were out in full force with 7 Belizeans and 3 Mexicans. We wanted to represent well for Roger (Zamir) since the race was being held in his adopted home town and was being organized by his in-laws.

As is usual, the attacks were furious and many in the beginning but the group basically stayed together for the 1st lap on the 42 mile "x-shaped" course which took riders all the way out to the San Juan Village, back towards Independence, turning south towards Bella Vista Village, before coming back out and heading into Big Creek then back out again. Unfortunately for us during these tense moments we there was a crash which saw four of our guys go down (including all three Mexicans), with one of them, Nelo Acosts breaking a derailur and being forced to abandon the race.

Gilberto going solo for 5 station prizes

On the 2nd of the two laps, the attacks really started to pick up since this was the lap that would have as much as a dozen cash station prizes (primes). Byron Pope (Benny's) was the 1st to make a credible move, but was soon reeled back in by the strong Santino's team who wanted to keep it together as best as possible for Marlon Castillo and Greg Lovell. As soon as the peleton brought Pope back, Gilberto Santiago (Starz) one of our Mexican imports who also won a stage for us in Merida, made a bold solo move that saw him eat up 5 straight station prizes in uncontested fashion.

Sensing this to be a serious move Santino's again took over the chasing duties and labored to bring him back. This hard effort by Marlon split the pack and saw a small group of nine go off the front.

We had good representation with Giov (Starz) and Roger (Zamir) being the two protected guys for the race. When they caught Gil, the now 10-man group would work well to stay away to the end. While at the back Pashito Leiva, now back with Starz after an up and down season, Victor Manuel "Chromato" Martinez (Mexician) and the remaining Choto brothers kept the peleton under control.

Coming into the sprint for the final, Gil jumped and got a massive gap on the break, but mis-judged the tight final right hand turn to the line and almost whipped out. He managed to hold on bu lost too much ground and had to settle for 4th just behind Christian MacNish (the Panamanian sprinter from Benny's) who took 1st, Greg Lovell (Santino's) 2nd, Douglas Guiterrez (Costa Rican from Benny's) 3rd. Rounding out the top ten were Nissan Arana (Typhoon) 5th, Giov (Starz) 6th, Jairo Campos (Typhoon) 7th, Roger (Zamir) 8th, Jawmeighan (Santino's) 9th, and Marlon Castillo (Santino's) in 10th.

Some other notable finishes for the team were Jose Choto (Zamir) in 12th, and Pashito (Starz) in 15th. In the Master 4/5 category race new comer to the Starz outfit, Glen O'Brien formerly of Santino's was the lone gun for the team. Though severly outnumbered he held Glen represented very well placing 3rd out of a 6 man breakaway that got clear with about 8 miles left in the 42 mile event. Kudos and a good showing!!!

This was a nice end tot he season and puts us in a confident position going into the 2010 campaign. We are already deep in negotiations with potential riders for the upcoming season and should be able to post new signings and a 2010 roster in the coming weeks. Stay tuned....

Giov Shines Blue on the Bipass

So it's been a while since I've posted but only because there's not been much happening here on the local race seen.

Yesterday, on the home training roads of the Sugar City Camp the 5th Annual John Briceno Bypass Criterium was held under the scortching heat and blowing crosswinds. Races in four categories were on the card for teh day, a 1/2 lap "Tinymites" race for 9-12 yr olds, a 4 lap Junior event, 3 lap 4/5 Master race and the main event was the 6 lap elite/u-23.

We fielded teams in the Master and Elite/u-23.

Damian and former 3 time Cross Country champ Charlie Lewis lined up in the master event but bad luck ruled the day. Charlie managed a brief stint out front by bridging over to the day's 1st lone man escapee, but that was short lived. He would manage to finish in the 3 bunch of the day cracking the top 15. Damian would have a horrible day flatting 4 miles into the race while trying to bridge over with 3 others to yet another lone escapee. The service truck as delayed for some reason and was no where to be found when he flatted and as such ended up abandoning the race.

In the big 6 lap (60 miler) of the day after a few early attempts a 7 man group made it clear bout 3 laps into the race. This group featured 2 Santino's riders including known sprinter Jawmeighan, a local favorite from Typhoon, Byron Pope from Benny's and Nelo Acosta from the Depredadores team out of Chetumal. We had two strong guys make the seperation in Giovanni Choto and new acquistion Glen O'Brien (formly of Santino's). Glen worked his tail off in the break to try to perserve Giov for the finale, and with a lap to go lost contact from the remaining 6.

When Glen got dropped the 6 man break had 1:25 lead on the chasing field, who were being led by Santino's and the Depredadores team, both wanting to place stronger riders in the position to win. Eventually the escape was never caught and in a surprise win Jairo Campos (Typhoon) charged around the final curve to pick up the two bike length win for his team. Giov surprised many including myself by slipping into 2nd by a front wheel, Domingo Lewis (Santino's) 3rd, Byron Pope (Benny's) 4th, Jawmeighan a surprising 5th, and Nelo Acosta (Depredadores) 6th.

Giov says it's the new Blue bicycle that he's been outfitted with that made the difference...super light, stiff, and fast!!! (Thanks to E.Murph for parting with his machine back in March)

More next time.

Mixed Success in Merida

Gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz on podium after Stage 4 win)

With the Belizean cycling season on its usual recess through the summer, we opted to take the guys over into Mexico for the Vuelta Ciclismo de Merida which featured a 4 stage race over three days, August 7 - 9, 2009. We opted to take both teams, Sugar City Starz and Zamir in an attempt to maximize numbers. In all the nine man contingent featured 5 Belizeans (Jose, Giovanni, and Peter Choto, Hernan Ochaeta and Arnides Rivas), 2 Guatemalans (Carlos Hernandez & Mario Santizo) as well as two Mexicans from Tabasco (Gilberto Santiago and Anuar Anubis Diaz).

Stage 1 - would feature a 140 km race from Merida to Kantunil and back along the open inter-state. The traffic was horrendous and made servicing the riders very difficult since the practice over there is to have the caravan pass the peleton and move to the front of the race then do standing service as the peleton wisks by. The field finished virtually in tact with a small breakaway group of about 12 riders coming in some 9 seconds ahead of the charging peleton. Our best placed after this stage was Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez who managed to make that selection slotting himself into 9th place on GC. A bit of bad luck saw two of our guys flat in the last 15 km and 1 km respectively, but none lost time.

Stage 2 - an early morning individual time trail of 29.5 kms or roughly 18 miles, again out on the open interstate highways but this time including a few steep climbs caused by the bridges on the freeway. Our hopes for this race rested squarely on the shoulders of Giovanni and Carlos since both were out best TT-ers. Several riders put in great rides including the race's leader Domingo Gonzalez of Team Orven from Nuevo Leon, as well as Manolo Henrandez of Team Depredadoes (Chetumal) and Belize's ITT champion Marlon Castillo of Santino's. Giov would manage a top 10 time however Carlos was passed by 3 riders but still managed a top 15 time. After this stage, out best position was Giovanni in 18th, and Carlos in 26th.

Giovanni and Arnides following attacks

Stage 3 - held at 3:00 p.m. later in the day featured a 100 km / 60 mile road race covering 2 laps of the Perferico on the outskirts of Merida. It featured a total of 11 small climbs up bridges on the freeway on each lap. The crosswinds were intense, but Giovanni knew he needed time and managed to catch the day's winning break after being launched off a serious attack my Carlos. The five man group would include other overall contenders Donizetti Vasquez and Rafael Escarsega (both Depredadores) and Jairo Campos of Belize - Team Typhoon. Seeing how much work Giov did in powering the break to stay clear the members decided they would have given him the stage win since the two Depredadores riders were only concerned with time gains. In the last 800 meters though Campos would opt to betray the agreement and shot out for the sprint win, a move completely unexpected by the group. After the dust settled the group would manage a 45 second advantage over the field with Giov getting 4th on the stage and moving up to 15th on the overall.

Stage 4 - Sunday's fourth and final stage would see the remaining 85 out of the original 176 riders who started travel 30 laps around the Paseo de Montejo, in the heart of downtown Merida. Depredadores (having the strongest team there) promised to attack early and often to dislodge Belize's best placed rider Marlon Castillo who sat in 2nd overall, 5 seconds down and with the hope of moving up one of their GC contenders Manolo Hernandez who sat in 3rd 12 seconds behind Marlon.

At the gun, a small 3 man break got off the front on lap one, and was soon joined by the race leader Gonzalez, Manolo Hernandez, Nissan Arana (typhoon), two Santino's riders who were covering attacks to protect Marlon and one of our Mexicans gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz). The leaders pushed the pace hard and Santino's tried but could not get organized in the back to bring back the escapees, not even after dropping their two guys from the front breakaway. With Santino's cracking and it's riders dropping out one by one the break further pulled away and would finish 1:35 ahead of the field. Coming in for the final sprint Gilberto got the jump on the breakaway group and easily won the sprint winning the stage by 3 bike lengths, but by then the damage had been done and Marlon fell from 2nd overall to 4th but managing to retain the U-23 title.

Gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz) on podium after Stage 4 win

So, in the end, a mixed result for us...a hard fought but tactically impressive stage win by Gilberto but out best finish on GC being 17th for Giovanni and 25th for Carlos Hernandez. Two guys abandoned on the last day but both gained well needed experience having participated for teh 1st time in such a high caliber tour outside of Belize.

Below is the link to the final GC results.

http://mx.geocities.com/esdene1/Clasificacion_general_Merida_09.xls

Disappointment in the Road Champs....

So after the dust was settled we walked away empty-handed in yesterday's National Road Championship Road Race after 120 miles of tough racing. Santino's ended up dominating the race placing 4 guys in the top 5 and walking away with the elite, U-23 and Master titles.

As expected, the race stayed virtually together for the 1st quarter until they met the rolling hilly sections. At the "Gap" (the race's toughest climb), Marlon (Santino's) launched a hard attack. He was quickly followed by Giov (Starz) who'd been out in the 1st small break of the day, Roger (Zamir), Greg (Santino's & defending Champ) and Nissan Arana (Typhoon). This group would eventually start building a lead that would prove to be the race's defining break. At this point...and coming out of the hilly section we were feeling good as we had our two best guys in the main break, with the two favored Santino guys and not enough fire power left in the bunch from other teams after clearing the hills.


With maybe 50 miles or so to go, we started playing our cards. Hernan, Jose, and Pete (all Zamir) along with Mateo (Starz) and two Santino riders made a bid to get over to the five leaders. We sent word to Roge and Giov in the break to shut it down a bit in order to give the chasers a chance to catch up. The thinking there was that if they did get across, the Zamir/Starz alliance would be well placed having 6 total riders in a break that would have been 11 strong if the chasers got there.

For whatever reason Giov continued pressing the pace in the break, and then in the back with the chasers, one of the Santino's riders dropped off the pace and Jose slowed down and stayed with him, as well as Pete. This grave error costed us a shot at the race, as Mat and Hernan were unable to close the gap to the leaders by themselves (both having labored in the early part of the race). Two Santino's riders saw them crack and attacked them and bridged across after a massive effort. This put the advantage squarely in the Santino's team hands....seven man break of which they had four of their best, two solid pacers and their two best sprinters.

After that Santino's used their numbers and threw down the attacks one behind the other. Giov was a monster and tracked every attack down in the last 15 miles of the race. Roge sat on with the hope that he would have been able to conserve enough to counter one of the Santino attacks in the last mile or two, maybe catch their sprinters off guard. With less than a mile to go and well within the last 500 meters, Marlon launched a killer attack and came flying round the final roundabout with a gap on the lead group which he would hold on to the end, just barely beating out teammate and last year's champion Gerg Lovell.

Third position went to a brave and well-deserving Nissan Arana (2007 Elite Champion) considering the work he did tracking back attacks with Giov in the last 15 miles. Santino's managed 4th - Darnel Barrow and 5th - Bertram Brown (former Starz ruder), with 6th going to Roge and 7th to Giov. 8th went to Santino's Leroy Casasola (also giving them the Masters title) and Jose (Zamir) managed to get 9th.

Clean sweep for Santino's.....

The season should now really slow down as no other major races remain on the calendar. We will instead be looking to do some races over in Mexico in the coming weeks, perhaps the Vuelta de Merida and the Clasica de Cuidad del Carmen around end July and early August.

Looking Ahead to the Nationals...

This year the local federation has opted to split the National Championships into an individual time trail and the usual road race in an attempt to give us a more international flare as well as encourage our riders to become more rounded and complete in other disciplines. The T/T was held this past Sunday, June 21st, 2009 covering an 11 mile ciruit and under rainy and wet conditions.

Our guys competed and all gave valiant showings with Roger (Zamir) managing 2nd in the elite T/T, Jose (Zamir) getting 3rd in the Master category and Giovanni (Starz) slotting into 2nd for teh U-23. Despite a protest raised by Roger, Marlon Castillo (Santino's) who is offically registered with the Association as a U-23 rider, he was allowed to participate in the Elite T/T and won. This unfortunate relegated Roge to 2nd, otherwise he would have easily captured the Elite title. As soon as the results are posted on the BCA website I'll post the link.

Looking ahead to this Sunday's Road Race, we like our chances going into the 130 mile race. Firstly, not many riders have been training for this sort of distance since the Cross Country, nor have many of them been training on the terrain that this race will cover. Starting in Silk Grass down south and then travelling north thru the Stann Creek Valley the race will pass over some of the toughest climbs the country offers. The Choto's are all great climbers, and Roge is one of the smoothest climbers in the country. The addition of the hard pacing Arnides Rivas and the return of Gian Ochaeta (whose been really sidelined this season since getting a full time job) should really boost our top guys once we've gotten through the hilly sections and hit the flatter more windy part of the race.

In the Master category both Jose (Zamir) and Mateo (Starz) should have solid chances. In the U-23, Giov and Gian should both go well. Last year while riding for their previous team Gian attacked in the last mile and was caught 250 meters from the finish when the sprint started, though of course Marlon Castillo will be a threat in their category. In the Elite category is should be a very interesting race, as our best shot will be to try to put Roger in the best position to win that title against the likes of Greggy and Froggy, both riding for Santino's. Roge is in great condition and coming off some really focused training after a disappointing Cross Country.

More after Sunday!!!

Strong Showing in Chetumal

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here and I start 1st with an apology. There has been literally nothing happening in racing in Belize, as is typical after the Cross Country for the season to taper off. On the horizon looms the National Road Championships, June 21st - ITT and June 28th Road Race. With that said, we took the team across the Mexican border this past weekend to participate in the 1st ever Clasica Depredadores in Chetumal on June 14 as a preparation race for the guys.

The race was well organized and big congrats should go out to the Depredadores Team of Chetumal for putting a very good race together, excellent course (tougher than many imagined), great prizes, hospitality, accomodations, 5 different levels/categories of races....congrats to them, good job!!!

The eilte race started at 9:00 a.m. and was supposed to be 90 miles however with an almost 8 mile lead out (neutral start) and 4 laps over a 1.5 km circuit the guys all clocked close to 102 miles on the day. All of our guys raced under the Sugar City Boyz banner today and though we were short some key guys like Roger, Mateo and Quinton (who is serving a suspension for using banned substances) we still managed to take a solid squad comprised of the 4 Choto brothers, Jose, Raf, Pete, and Giov, as well as Hernan Ochaeta and new acquistion Arnides Rivas (see pic below) who rode his 1st race in our colors and did a yoman's job of eventually helping Giov make it over to the break.

As expected the competition was hard and intense in light of the fact that some big name Mexican talent was there such as Carlos M. Hernandez (2nd in the Cross Country), teammates Carlos "Chicote" Valdez, Mario Rios, as well as Donizetti Vasquez, Canadian powerhouse Brian Barkhouse, Omar Trompa, Chino...and noted Belizeans such as Nissan Arana, Brandon Cattouse, oh and did I mention Team Santino's took their entire 9 man elite team.

The early break saw Rios, Barkhouse and Greg Lovell (Santino's) manage to get a lead of about 1:30 on the chasers which they would hold until little after the 1/2 way mark. In the chase group of 15-18, we had good numbers - Jose, Giov and Pete who had been in the early moves from the get go. With about 40 K to go the race really took shape with the high level riders putting their stamp on the race. Eventually with 20 K to go and after several attacks by the likes of Donizetti and Nissan, Rios and Chicote, some of the Santino guys, the lead groups would disintegrate to about 10 guys...two of which were ours in Giov and Jose.

Entiring the final 4 lap circuit Giov just could not stay on anymore and faded slightly off the back never being able to quite get back on. Jose was out numbered and isolated againsted the host team Depredadores (Hernandez, Vasquez, and Rios) as well as the ever dangerous Barkhouse, and Belizeans Nissan and Greg...all of whom have stronger kicks to the line than he does.

With a lap and 1/2 to go on teh final circuit Manolo Hernandez made his move and would never be caught giving the home team Depredadores the win. Two guys tried to catch him but ended up battling it out for 2nd, which would go to Barkhouse and Chino taking 3rd. The remainder of the lead group then sprinted it out for the remaining podium prizes and Rios (Depredadores) outkicked Arana, Lovell and Jose in that order giving Jose a had fought 7th place on the day.

After the race, we all kicked back, soaked in some Mexican cuisine and beers, went back to the hotel and packed up for home. All in all not a bad day of racing which should give the guys a solid foundation heading into the Nationals in the weeks ahead. More updates and info coming soon...I promise!!!

Jose gets 4th and 1st Belizean in Cross Country

So after the dust had settled and contrary to my pre-race post, a Mexican rider emerged victorious in the 81st Cross Country Classic. In fact the Mexicans managed 1st and 2nd and ate up close to 35% of the station prizes and primes on the course. After 6 hours and 2 minutes of hard racing, Mexican Carlos Lopez (riding unttached) emerged with the win in solo fashion a minute ahead of country-man Carlos Manuel Hernandez (riding for the Mexican National Selection). Rounding out the top three was Cuban Frank Travieso riding for Team Santino's giving the foreigners the 1, 2, 3 sweep of the podium.

With that faith sealed, the eyes of the nation then came down to who would be the 1st Belizean, a heroic feet in itself given the overwhelming foreign competition in this year's race, and to be outdone was our Team Zamir's very own Jose Choto out-sprinting Team Santino's rider Geovanni "Froggy" Leslie for the forth overall position and capturing the hearts of a nation by also winning the covetted 1st Belizean prize in his attempt to defend the garland.

The race got started shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday morning with 123 riders. About 3 miles in a small breakaway of four riders including one of our protected guys Giovanni Choto (Starz) got clear. Soon after this breakway group ballooned to 12 with our Eric Murphy (Starz) and Roger Troyer (Zamir) going along with the move since it had the presence of several dangerous Mexican and Costa Rican riders and given how the race unflodded last year where an early break stayed out for most of the race, and eventually saw the winner emerge, they opted to follow. The main peleton opted to let the front runners go.

At 30 miles in a Mexican and a Costa Rican got clear of the 12 and ran all the way into Cayo and back to mile 42 before they were caught. In the back the action was relentless and main peleton would eventually catch the 10 riders chasing the 2 foreigners about 2 miles before the San Igancio turn point. With the dangerous group caught it was just a matter of time before the attacks started on the return leg. The heat and wind were definitely factors as slowly but surely the pack got smaller as riders abandoned.

Coming past Belmopan and with about 45 miles to go, one of our two Guatemalans, Luis Santizo (Starz) tried to bridge across to the two front runners. Seeing this failed attempt a small group of 5 gave it a go. Froggy Leslie and Frank Travieso (both Santino's), Carlos Lopez and Carlos Manual Hernandez (both Mexicans) and our Jose Choto managed to catch the two with about 42 miles to go. From there this group worked together to distance themselves from the pack. Three of our guys - Bill Elliston and Roger (from Zamir Cyling) and an toasted Santizo tried to bridge over, and came close but just could not finish the effort.

Our 2nd Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez (Zamir) made a valiant effort to get across the over 2 minute gap to the 5 front runners and give Jose some help in the break and eventually caught them with 20 miles to race. By the time he got there though he too was dead on the bike and when the Mexican Hernandez attacked Carlitos got put out the back and would eventually roll in at the finish under sever cramping in 27th position.

Hernandez would eventually open a lead of a minute on the four remaining riders. Not to be outdone was his country-man Carlos Lopez who attacked with 5 miles remaining and eventually caught up to Hernandez with 2 miles to go to the finish. Hernandez would flat in the last 2 miles and with about a mile to go Lopez rode off down the rode to finish about a minute ahead of Hernandez and claim the 2009 Cross Country title.

Back behind the two Belizeans Leslie and Choto would drop the Cuban Travieso but when the cat and mouse games started in the last 2 km, Travieso caught and left the two Belizeans and rolled in for 3rd in uncontested fashion. After the jocking, Jose jumped first with 300 meters to go and gapped Froggy to easily win the 4th position and claim the much covetted 1st Belizean with Froggy having to settle for a disappointing 5th.

In all the Sugar City Starz / Team Zamir camp managed 4 riders in the top 20 with Giovanni Choto in 8th, Quinton Hamilton (Starz) in 12th, and Bill Elliston (Zamir) in 16th. We also managed to pick up a few station prizes along the way thanks to Jose's presence in the final break. All in all, though it was not an outright win, the team is very happy and content with the results in light of the fact that many of the foreigners who rode this year were Professionals with Cat.1 licenses and were just too much competition fro the Belizeans. Our record in two Cross Country Classics now...1st Belizean...TWICE!!!!

In closing we would like to thank our sponsors Melin Vasquez and Family, Vasquez Trucking, Belize Sugar Industries Ltd, Belize Medical Associates, Triple A Imports and La Popular Bakery.

Below please find links to the final classicification links via the BCA website.
http://www.belizecycling.com/results/43-mexican-carlos-lopez-wins-81st-holy-saturday-cross-country-classic.html?28e5bbf660cb545fc854f5c048c7be7c=d5ac3be423a5b511a87c01ed9aebb293