Corentyne pip Upper Demerara/Kwakwani for cycling honors

MOE/GTU 57th National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track & Field Championships

– Ramsuchit rules under-16s
By Michelangelo Jacobus
On day two of the 57th National Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships it was District 6 (Corentyne) who came out on top in the cycling segment.

They held off the defending champions District 10 (Upper Demerara/Kwakwani) on Monday at the inner circuit of the National Park by a mere seven points as they amassed 229 points compared to District 10’s 222 points.
There was no real standout cyclist from Corentyne but they were consistent in placing among the top four throughout the respective age categories racking up points methodically as the day went by.

The highlight of the day was young Jonathan Ramsuchit’s dominance of the Boy’s U-16 category; out of his three events for the day, the diminutive 14-year-old hailing out of New Amsterdam (District 15) put his much larger rivals to shame copping two gold medals and a silver.
Ramsuchit got off to a flyer in his first event of the day; the 3000 metre Boy’s U-16 which is just two laps around the inner circuit. He maintained his consistent start by keeping up with the early leader Denzil Huntley (District 10), however on the second and final lap Ramsuchit switched gears and made his move with 200 metres left to leave Huntley in the dust and cross the finish line in a time of four minutes 52 seconds to claim his first gold of the day.
That would be the start of an entertaining rivalry as Ramsuchit turned his attention to the 2000 metres dispatching of his competition in three minutes 52 seconds for his second gold while Tyirique Clement (District 3) copped second and Chameshwar Dani (District 6) settled for third.
In his final event of the day Huntley got revenge when he piped Ramsuchit by 2/100s of a second to win gold in the 1500 metres race. Huntley crossed the finish line in two minutes 16.4 seconds while Ramsuchit was second in two minutes 16.6 seconds. David Hicks came in third to win bronze for District 6.
After his outstanding performance Ramsuchit explained that he is accustomed to riding over longer distances and as such found no competition over the longer events, however the lad pointed out that the shorter race was a bit of a challenge but revealed that he was pleased with his form.
The “Nationals” will continue today from 09:00hrs at the National Track and Field Facility, Leonora, West Coast Demerara with the track and field events which will finish on Friday. The Boy’s Open 40Km and Girl’s Open 25Km Cycling Road Race will kick off on Friday as well.