Chin wins first mountain bike race of new year

The open elite category was fast and furious with just four laps of the short course and 24 cyclists aiming for the top spot.

From the first lap both Chin and Christopher Govia of Breakaway Cycling Club separated themselves from the other riders.

With a sprint to the finish, Chin held off Govia for the win in a time of 40 minutes and 54 seconds.

Adam Farfan (Survival OS) was third with Adande Piggott (MTB Kings) fourth, Micah Augustine (MTB Kings) fifth and Ryan Abraham (Slipstream) sixth. Kiyome Rankine of Slipstream was first in the ladies open elite category.

For the first time in mountain biking in Trinidad and Tobago there was an Under-5 category race. The category was won by Christopher Salazar.

Among the other winners were Shia Clark of the Giants Club who won the boys Under-7 category, Nathaniel Belmonte (Giants) grabbed the boys Under- 9 category and Cara Phillips (Giants) took the girls Under-9 category.

The Under-11 boys was won by Scott Michael-Shaw (Giants), while Jesse Hospedales (Giants) took the win in the Under-13 boys. In the Under-13 girls Kaiya Rankine-Beadle of Rainbow Warriors Triathlon Club snatched first place.

Mathew Wilson of MTB Kings won the open sport category, while Hospedales was the first tinymite in the category. Wilson, the overall winner, was also the first Masters 40+ finisher and Kayim Ali was the first Masters 50+. Miranda Morton-Gittens was the first female in this category.

With a total of 62 competitors, organizer Michael Phillips believes that mountain biking is off to a good start for the year and hopes to see the gradual increase in participation as the year progresses.

The organiser also hopes to stage a larger mountain bike event later this year with potential international athletes present which would give local riders a good opportunity to test themselves on home ground for this year’s Caribbean Mountain Bike Championships, set to be held in Trinidad.