By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation (ABCF), St Claire Williams, has declared the body’s first event in almost a year a major success.
Speaking on the heels of the federation’s staging of the Pan Am Base Criterium, held on Sunday in Coolidge, Williams said that hard work and dedication by all involved ensured the success of the race which saw what has been estimated as a big turnout by both riders and supporters alike.
“All the teams, persons who are members of a team, not a member of a team, coaching staff, the spectators that came out because for a very long time we haven’t had such a big crowd at a venue, so I think everybody must be congratulated for what took place yesterday [Sunday] but yes, we did a lot of work behind the scenes. We had to ramp up the work to ensure that the event came off well, making sure that all of the protocols were in place, getting the necessary approval so I think everybody did what they had to do to make sure that this first event, after such a long time, came off to a good start,” he said.
Sean Weathered and his Terminix teammates, Jeffrey Kelsick and Rene Gayrell Jr, dominated the race to finish first, second and third respectively.
Williams also commended those at the venue for adhering to all instructions and requests by the federation as they moved to ensure that all Covid-19 protocols were enforced.
“I think everybody stuck to the guidelines in terms of the mask-wearing. We had hand washing stations, we had two temperature guns there to test temperatures which we recorded so in case of anything we could do contact tracing so we ramped up the Covid protocols above and beyond what we were supposed to do and we are just hoping that as we continue along the season that for most persons, it would be automatic that they understand what is happening at the venue with the additional protocols than if they were just going along their merry way somewhere else,” he said.
Weathered clocked a time 1:30.58 (one hour, 30 minutes and 58 seconds) to finish just ahead of Kelsick who finished second just a fraction of a second later. Gayrall Jr clocked 1:31.00 (one minute and 31 seconds) in the third position.