NEVIS CYCLE & TRIATHLON CLUB

The 2010 St Kitts & Nevis National Cycling Championships were completed at the weekend, the first leg was on Saturday, an Individual Time Trial, where the cyclists race against the clock over a prescribed course, and for the first time the ITT was held in St Kitts on the new by-pass road.

The riders were separated by category, 3 laps for the Elite adults (21km) and 2 laps for the Juniors, Masters and Cadet riders (14km) and with the assistance of the SK police Force the course proved more than ideal for the race at hand.

The final results saw Reggie Douglas and Kathryn Bertine maintain their 2009 Championship TT crowns, with James Weekes missing out on the mens title by a mere 2 seconds, last years Junior Champions Assim Chapman and Sasha Lloyd  also held onto their titles, 12 yr old Kurtis Huggins was crowned Cadet Champion and in the masters category the incredible 76 yr old Gordon ‘Doc’ Avery took top honours.

On an overcast Sunday afternoon the riders gathered outside Best Buy supermarket in Gingerland to take on the very challenging 40 mile road race, the tough course first went to the top of Pond Hilll, then doubled back down Zion Hill and on to the turn at the top of the hill at Maddens, then back up the very daunting and aptly named ‘Killer Bee’ (Zion Hill) completing one loop back at Best Buy.The Elite riders had to complete 4 laps, the Juniors and Masters 2 laps and Cadets 1 lap.

Visiting rider George Varhola (USA) who had the ignominy of having to race on a rental bike in the previous days TT, set out with vengeance in mind, on his own bike, which had finally turned up, he blasted away up the very first hill forcing the other riders to go for it too, splintering the pack from the off. It was a very tough course and kudos to all the riders who completed their laps, but the inevitable showdown occurred as George faded to the chasing duo of Reggie and James, but it also took its toll on James who finally dropped off the pace leaving Reggie to ride on alone completing the double once more. In the womens event Kathryn had a stiff challenge  from Monica but held on gamely to solo for her double whammy of Championship titles.

In the Junior division Assim and Sasha proved too strong and took their respective double titles as well, though credit must be given to Trifon Simmons who showed great heart in both events., for the Cadets it was a double for young Kurtis Huggins, but in the Masters Jaime Holmes put on a great show to wrestle the Road Race title from the good Doctor Avery.

The SKN Cycling Federation wishes to thanks the police on both St Kitts and Nevis for their invaluable help with traffic control, with special thanks to Collette, Penny and Marecia for their timing and race control duties, we also wish to congratulate all of our participants, young and old, and 3 cheers to our National Cycling Champions for 2010.