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!!!