The Tribune

AFTER a gruelling 72-mile cycling race, Tracey Sweeting of the Enjoy Cycling Club emerged as the winner of the 40th Independence National Cycling Championship and was crowned the 2013 Bahamas National Cycling Champion.

In what was called a “very competitive race,” a number of teams were executing different strategies to ensure their team would be victorious.

During the race, a number of cyclists attempted to break away from the main pack but were quickly brought back to the pack by the strong Hancapie Racing Team, led by George Hancapie of the United States himself.

“The HancapieRacing team controlled the race by maintaining an average speed of about 26 to 30 miles per hour. Only the stronger cyclists were able to maintain that pace and these elite cyclists rode together to the finish line where Tracey Sweeting was able to emerge out of a massive sprint to win the 40th Independence Cycling Championship.

“Coming cross the finish line in second was one of our younger and promising cyclists, Deangelo Sturrup of the Warriors Cycling Club, and in third Mark Holowesko of Hancapie Racing.

On the women’s side, whose race was equally as exciting as they rode with the male cyclists, the winner of the race was Anna Cleaver, riding unattached.

The second place finisher was Barbara Ann Bernard of Team We Win, who was crowned as the 2013 Bahamas National Cycling Champion by virtue of being the first Bahamian women to cross the line. She was also the winner of the Open Female Category.

Third place went to Shantell Brown-Levarity, riding unattached.

The officials of the Bahamas Cycling Federation described the race as being very successful and encouraging.

The 2013 cycling race had one of the most entries in a very long time as they had in excess of 60 cyclists participating.

“This was a good indication that cycling is growing in the Bahamas with a promising future, considering the cadre of young cyclists in the federation. Additionally, as a lot of Bahamians are now including cycling as part of their health and fitness programmes, a lot of these casual cyclists are now taking it a bit more seriously and have started entering the various races.

“One of the goals of the Bahamas Cycling Federation is to encourage all of its member federations and clubs to host as many races as possible to maintain the interest in the sport.

Also, the federation is also looking to move the Independence Cycling Championship from the western end of New Providence to the inner city so as to generate more interest within the Bahamian population.