As the Virgin Islands Cycling Federation (VICF) approached its midway mark, cyclists got a chance on Sunday to gauge exactly where they’re at by competing in the Divi to Ha’Penny Time Trial. They started the race in front of the Divi Carina Bay Resort at one-minute intervals and headed down the south shore, ending at the Ha’Penny Beach entrance. In seasons past, this race went in both directions, but this season it will be the only offering for this course. The race highlighted for many cyclists areas that need improvement, and for some, it was an indication that they were right on track. Keeping in mind that this year’s race was held a month ahead of last year’s, there was overall satisfaction on individual performances.
In the Masters’ category, Mark Kennedy secured the top spot with Dick Isherwood and Peter Duthie taking second and third, respectively. Melissa Banuelos secured her bid to the Expert category by taking the top of the podium in the Sport class, Ivan Espinosa and Joey Swanson rounded out the other two podium places. The efforts of Mervin Mills and Clive Parris weren’t enough to hold off the TT specialist John Harper who topped the field of Experts. Promises were made at the last race between two of this season’s top Elites, there was no telling if any of these promises were kept; however, Mark Defour was too fast for Glenn “Hula” Massiah and David Parris.
The next scheduled race is the Fredriksted Road Race on April 14 and offers three distances: 16, 24 and 40 miles. For more information, contact vicfsecretary@gmail.com.
DIVI to Ha’Penny Time Trial 3/24/13
Conditions: Cool, breezy (east south east winds)
TOTAL TIME
Elite 9 miles
1 Mark DeFour 0:22:22
2 Glenn Massiah 0:22:29
3 David Parris 0:22:33
4 Cumba Greaux 0:23:00
Expert 9 miles
1 John Harper 0:23:48
2 Clive Parris 0:25:02
3 Mervin Mills 0:25:42
4 Whitney Kemper 0:26:14
5 James Meyers 0:26:22
6 Laverne Fredericksen 0:26:23
7 Morgan Theophane 0:27:00
Sport 9 miles
1 Melissa Banuelos 0:27:06
2 Ivan Espinosa 0:28:46
3 Joey Swanson 0:29:19
4 Alex Lewit 0:29:32
5 Valentino Gario 0:30:27
6 Judy Gario 0:32:17
7 Leonard Richards 0:32:33
8 Edwin Velasquez 0:36:31
Masters 9 miles
1 Mark Kennedy 0:26:50
2 Dick Isherwood 0:27:11
3 Peter Duthie 0:32:01
4 Jimmy Warren 0:35:44
5 Frederick Rollins 0:37:33
