By Neto Baptiste
The Road Runners Cycling Club will, on November 10, host the first instalment of the Andre Simon Inaugural Memorial Race as they seek to honour his memory following his death on June 8, 2023 at the age of 35.
President of the club, Alistair Savory, said the idea is to host an event that will cater for seasoned cyclists while making it a family affair.
“We’ve moved to make it a more family oriented event so there will be events in the afternoon running for children as well as for the more proficient cyclists from the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation. We’re going to be using the access road to the dragstrip for the small children races and so on. There will be toilet facilities on site and of course, we will be doing some circuit racing around the inner roads of the stadium,” he said.
The event, which will be hosted at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, is slated to push off at 2pm and will feature pro races, fun cycle races, fitness fun walk, games and activities while food and drinks will be on sale.
Savory said the main race will take the form of an eliminator.
“You have 10 riders; they start off together and the first nine across the line will complete another lap and the 10th will drop out so you will end up with a situation [that] as the laps count off, the number of riders are reduced. So you’ll find riders that will try to coast behind other guys and then sprint to the line so they are not last even though they might not have the performance overall, they try to work smart,” he said.
The administrator said the idea is for the general public to come out and celebrate the life of Andre Simon in an atmosphere that best reflects him.
“There is going to be a variety of prizes because we’ve got some sponsors on board to help out. The kids’ races will be lower, but I don’t have the figures for that right now. This will be inaugural and it will be like the John T Memorial in Antigua although it will be more localised. If we get the entry levels and we have the interest then we may add a road race to it,” Savory said.
Registration for the event is $20. Participants can register online or on the day of the event.
