By Romario Samaroo
Winning the second race of his senior career, PSL rider, Romello Crawford is relishing in the success of his recent wins, notably in both forms of cycling.
On Monday, Crawford rode off with the title in the 4th annual Benjamin Sports Store cycling road race in a time of one hour 54 minutes and 29 seconds with the race being hosted in his hometown of Berbice. The 50-mile event pedaled off from in front of the Benjamin Sports Store at Fyrish Corentyne and proceeded to the No. 51 Police station before returning to its place of origin for the finish.
Crawford was followed by Paul Denobrega (Team Evolution) in second, Hamzah Eastman (Team Cocos) in third, Geron Williams (Continental CC) in fourth, Shaquel Agard (Linden Bauxite Flyers) in 5th, Andrew Hicks (WS United) in 6th, Jamual John (Team Cocos) in 7th, Slivio Inniss (Linden Bauxite Flyers) in 8th, Stephano ‘Sunny’ Husbands (Team Cocos) in 9th and Mark Harris (Team Cocos) in 10th.
Also, Saturday saw Crawford outsprinting Williams in the 12th Demerara Distillers Limited 35-lap featured race in the National Park to complete the feat in a time of one hour 16 minutes and 24 seconds. After these achievements, Crawford acknowledged that it was a good feeling to beat some of the seasoned riders especially in the presence of his home crowd while crediting his stringent training and familiarity to the conditions for the win.
The 18 year old who only came over to the senior class this year has immediately caught the eyes of the other riders and is now considered one of the better riders with a bright future. This is particularly interesting since the former Corentyne Comprehensive High School student only started riding competitively just under four years since he was one of the best jumpers in the ancient county, having made the inter district National Championship team in 2014 and would have made it again last year had he been available.
Crawford has also made tremendous strides on the regional scene, having been included in a team to the United Cycling International (UCI) tour of Tobago in 2015 where he was successful.
The Number One village native, like the long list of family members fell in love with cycling after following in the footsteps of his cousins but intends to surpass all of their efforts by being the number one ranked cyclist at the end of the year as well as his personal goal of making the National team.
Crawford would now be tested in unfamiliar conditions when he heads over for the final leg of the 20th Cheddi B. Jagan Memorial Cycling road race in Essequibo this Sunday.
