James Adderley Sports update on cycling, football and karate
James Adderley
Good evening I’m James Adderly and we welcome you to this fresh dish of Sport’s Monday.
For a 5th time the elite cyclists of this nation took aim at breaking the 1 hour limit set by the Belize Cycling Association to finish the 26 mile ride to Hattieville and back would Saturday February 19th make a difference or would our best riders again blame it on the rain. And they’re off on the slippery and treacherous surface we call the Western Highway.
Of course the rain excuse does appear legitimate as the downpour make its presence felt immediately into the ride.
Around mile 12, Glen O’Brien of Zamir gambles on a solo flight after extricating himself from the pack.
And this move takes him to the turnaround point at Hattieville in an unchallenged fashion.
However, the main pelathon does remain within striking distance while others are let go.
It’s a brand new configuration on the way back when the pelathon returns to a compact formation and yes people the rain continues to up the degree of difficulty.
So we fast forward to the finish for a mighty field sprint and it’s Darnell Barrow of Santino’s in the middle of the pack that makes the big move.
The challenge comes from Erwin Middleton of Indeco but for a 2nd week in a row Darnell Barrow displays his star quality to grabbing the big W in a time of 1hr 3 mins and 38 secs. Middleton settles for 2nd, Devon Medwood of Clear the Land finishes 3rd; Sherman Thomas of Team Police takes 4th place while Brian Lopez of Indeco rounds out the top 5. Of course the time limit was not met so we look forward to week 6 and maybe then the riders will qualify for prizes.
In the meantime we say congratulations to Erwin Middleton of Indeco for taking the U-23 win and Sherman Thomas of Team Police who emerged the Masters Champion.
At the Jr. Class, Deezan Spence of Twin towers beats out Giovanni Lovell of Indeco and Austin Armstrong in that order to take the Jr. Classification. They were times at 1hr 9 mins 56 secs.
Checking the Weekend Warriors scene, Saturday’s race was won by Amir Gonzalez – Geffrey Waight took 2nd and Ramon Morales finished 3rd. Luke Usher then out sprinted the pack to grab 4th place.
Meanwhile folks, the Belize Cycling Association next big event is set for the 13th March and it’s the 30th edition of the Annual Belmopan Cycling Classic which covers some 100 miles. Peter Choto goes in as defending champion.
We now turn to the Karate scene as the Belize Elite Karate Team under Mester Kelly hosted the Mexico Taekwondo Team under Coach Torres in a Belize vs. Mexico format inside the Belize Elementary Auditorium on Saturday. And of course, after the niceties the minute combat begins.
Belize got off to a positive start as Isaac Lumbly hits Jose Angel Mota cleanly to the abdomen to grab the point that gives him the victory.
Jennifer Larrieu was methodical in winning her bout against Yasori Cab with a 9 to 5 score for the win.
Craghan Cleland was able to come back against Deud Malarcon to take what looked like a pretty close combat.
Randy Arana had a tough time against Miguel Barragan but enough to let out the win for Belize.
Jose Diaz floored his man in the 1st round to overcome Edgar Romero in the 2 rounder to hand the homeland another victory.
Ashton Tasher needed the 3rd round to prevail against Salvador Ramos and he was up to the task to earn another W for Team Belize.
Basketballer Rupert Brown ran into a brick wall named William Chuayo who picks up Mexico’s 2nd win in this face-off.
Felix Hernandez was also unable to take his man Andre Perez who took the victory in a 7-5 score.
For certain Carmelita Kuylen was an unstoppable force against Brenda Velez Belmont as she paced herself to a comfortable win while her sibling Carla Kuylen proved to be a deadly head hunter as she pummeled her way to the W.
In the final bout of the day, Dr. Pedro Arriaga was pretty dominant against Moises Vega as he surgically worked his way to the big W.
Thus Belize Elite Karate Team posted a 9-2 record in the eleven matches on a 73 to 56 point margin. The scene now drifts to Chetumal Mexico this Saturday for the rematch.
Finally in football news, play in the Super League Belize City 1st Division competition on Saturday at the MCC Grounds matched City Boys United against Atlantic Insurance.
Atlantic Insurance take the lead the minute in when Jamal Martinez catches up with this center from off the right wing and heads it home to open scoreboard.
4 minutes into 2nd half, the Insurance Co. make it 2-zip when Carlos Trestoza centers to Bryan Martinez who gets an easy goal off the goalkeeper’s errant play.
Make it 3-nil when Jamal Martinez out runs the City Boys defense and scores his 2nd goal of the match.
City Boys final pull one back off this corner kick that Shawn Thurton heads home out the 68th minute.
2 minutes later Hubert Baptist hands this ball inside the 18 which leads to the penalty call.
Mark Grant steps up and he makes it a 3-2 score.
However, the City Boys comeback falls short when Byron Martinez picks up this ball unattended and he makes it a 4-2 final as Atlantic Insurance posts the W.
In other action on Saturday, West Lake humiliated Kings Park FC in a 12-2 shellacking while Ebony Lake routed Atlantic Bank in a 9-1 blow-out.
This weekend’s schedule at the Barracks finds Brown Bombers aiming at Kelly Street, KHMH hooks up with Ebony Lake and Yabra FC faces Atlantic Insurance.
Folks, the 5th Annual Belize Bank Super League Tournament kicks off this weekend of February 20th and 27th. City Boys United goes in as defending champion.
Jah Overall, I’m James Adderley.
