Sports
2nd Grand Bahama Annual Cycling Championships Results
By Sylvia Russell
May 27, 2008 - 10:46:58 AM

Competitors of the 2nd Annual Grand Bahama Cycling Championship held on Saturday, May 24th.

The Grand Bahama Cycling Club staged its 2nd Annual Cycling Championships, Saturday morning May 24th 2008. With a distance of 50 miles done by the elite cyclist.

This race was sanctioned by the Bahamas Amateur Cycling Federation. The race was very well staged, a professional job by the GBCC Organization, with its leader Mr. Rowshan Jones.....who by the way is a  competitive cyclist himself.

The battle line was drawn as cyclist came in from the other Islands, to capture the honor and battle it out with Grand Bahamian cyclist.The day started off with novice and junior cyclist,Team Warriors, coached, as well as managed by Barron 'Turbo' Musgrove, they dominated this division. They covered one lap of the 12 mile course and it was action packed from start to finish.

Carlano  'The Car' Bain and Justin ' The Jet' Minnis assumed the pace  for the first few miles, but the only female in the junior category Antinece 'Lillie' Simmons was right up there with the guys battling it out. Later in the race Rihaime  'The Rocket' Colebrook launched several attacks but he was eventually pulled back by the pack. In the end it was Anthony  'Biggie' Colebrook, who, when the dust cleared, out-sprinted the pack but just 10th's of seconds as Biggie, Lillie and The Jet came in at 38.08 mins, with The Rocket and The Car crossing the finish line, with great sprinting action, in 40.52 mins. Our Novice cyclist with this group, Larry Russell completed his 12 miles in 45.24 mins.

In the Open Male, Top Senior Cyclist or 'Big Boys' took to the streets for their show, with anticipations as to who would be the 'Champion'. They covered 4 laps approximately 50 miles of the course on Chicken Farm Road.

The race started and finished at a very high speed,Vince Turnquest, Keith Major and Robert 'Penetrator'  Bethel all hammered the pace. Throughout the race there were countless attacks by various cyclist and if you blinked, you might miss them passing by. In the second lap GBs' Bruce Silvera took quite a lead but was pulled back into the pack. As we waited under the tent to see exactly what would happen, the comment was made,"On the finish if you see Turbo and Keith sprinting....." these two are well known sprinters. But! it happened Rowshan with just 1 and 1/2 laps to go pulled out from the pack and nobody could follow his wheel. Nobody But! Yes! 'Turbo' Musgrove was able to, the veteran cyclist made his move and dropped the pack, riding at high speed to catch Jones. They both rode together avoiding the fast moving 'train' lead by Vince and Keith, who were unable to catch them.This was a finish to see as they took control of the road, sprinting against each other. It was Musgrove who out-sprinted Jones for the victory at the finish line.

'Turbo' is still the most Celebrated Bahamian Cyclist as ever,and even as President of the N.P.C.A and Coach to the Team Warriors among other things, is still competing. Remarkable!

Open Women division, Grand Bahamas' own Vicki Stafford and Leigh Termath tied to the finish line in 1:40:31, for 2 laps. Great job gals!!

Open Men/Novice, GB again dominated this as Bruce Silvera completed 3 laps in 1:45 and Jim Goodrum 2 laps in 1:06.

A few did not finish, but certainly need mentioning as they gave it their best, 'Biggie', Wayne Archer and Romeo Seymour. These were gruelling conditions as this race started after 10am.

Results: 1st Barron 'Turbo' Musgrove  2:11:06.12  -  2nd Rowshan Jones 2:11:15.66  -  3rd Keith Major 2:13:16.44  -  4th Vince Turnquest 2:14:11.79  - 5th Robert 'Penetrator' Bethel 2:17:19.91

We have a few names 'carved in stone' forever on the roads of Grand Bahama as Robert officially became 'The Penetrator', Carlano 'The Car', Justin 'The Jet', Rihaime 'The Rocket'.

We all had a great time and want to thank our photographer, all those who came out and supported this event.Our good friend, Mr Herman Major, who got his bike and rode a bit with the guys. Johnny Hoyte and Kim Thompson, along with others who controlled the roads for the cyclist, keeping them safe. Also our great appreciation to Rowshan Jones, for executing such a wonderful event.

A big thank you to our sponsors, The d'Albenas Agency Ltd, Mr Godfrey Thomas, who have helped give  the young cyclist of the NPCA such a wonderful opportunity. We always look forward to seeing our new friends, who on each trip have patiently accommodated us as we made plans. Zulu's Car Rental,  Bell Channel Inn, Bahamasair (GB & Nassau)

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