Marlon Castillo wins M&M Tour of Belize

Good evening, I?m James Adderley with this week?s splash Sports Monday. Day seven of the M and M Tour saw Marlon Castillo?s meteoric rise to the top of the overall standings.

So as we join the start of the ninety-five mile ride in stage eight, packaged in a three-lap format from the Belmopan junction to the hills of Armenia on the Southern Highway, the Santino rider wears the yellow this Saturday.

At the turn around point in lap one, the Santino team?thanks to the Guatemalans, Mario Siejas and Enrique Rodriguez, and Belizeans Jose Choto and Froggy Leslie do control the pace.

In the meantime here is Bill Elliston, reigning cross country champion, grabbing his fourth sprint of the ride to capture the king of the mountain title of this.

At the finish line four hours, thirty-six seconds after it started it finishes in Armenia when the yellow jersey jumps in the view on a successful blast to the tape. Scottie Weiss of Guinness Seahawks has to settle for second of the sixty-three riders that started this stage; while Ernest Meighan, who didn?t know where the finish line was, pulls up third. Victor Manuel Hernandez, the Guatemalan riding for Sun Digital Photo, rolls in fourth, while Giovanni Choto, that young upstart from CD Joints, rounds out the top five.

We now go to the final stage nine and we join the pelathon on the Western Highway where the number two in the standings, big bad Scottie Weiss is trying to run from Marlon Castillo who wears the yellow, and number seven Ian Smith?in blue?he finds himself a minute thirty-nine behind the overall leader.

Nevertheless, here are the five riders arriving from Cayo to begin the five laps around the Northern Highway for the big finish. Scottie Weiss, Castillo, Smith, Giovanni Choto, and Victor Manuel Hernandez.

At the tape it?s a head on clash between archrivals Marlon Castillo and American Scottie Weiss. It?s a beautiful sprint, but the Belizean prevail to win his third stage in a row, thereby leaving now doubt that he has captured the 2006 M and M title.

Scottie finishes second, Ian Smith settles for third, Giovanni Choto is fourth, while the Guatemalan Victor Manuel Hernandez rounds out the top five for the final stage of this tour.

Of course, we simply must show you Ernest Meighan edging Christopher Harkey for sixth in this stage. Certainly looks good to me.

James Adderley
?Marlon, I want you tot ell the people of Belize how you feel about this win.?

Marlon Castillo, Winner, M&M Tour of Belize
?I fell happy because I win for Belize and thing. Everybody mi di depend pan me fi mek I win this tour and I did it fi prove them, prove them wrong.?

James Adderley
?You finished third in the sprint, third overall. You said it?s good enough. Don?t you think you would have wanted just a bit more??

Ian Smith, 3rd, M&M Tour of Belize
?Of course. I mean, everybody enters the race to win, but it?s a learning experience. You come off of it and you learn. Marlon Castillo, hats off to him, he?s the best cyclists right now in Belize and I?m just glad a Belizean won. I didn?t do it, but my countryman did, so big up Belize.?

In the meantime, we must say Bill Elliston and Chris Harkey are not very happy troopers at the end do of this stage, but life is real and then you got to move on.

Now here?s the official top ten from the 2006 M&M Tour just concluded yesterday.

Marlon Castillo wins it all; he hails from Santino?s. He did it in a time of twenty-one hours, thirty minutes, three seconds. He beat out Scottie Weiss who has to settle for second place. Scottie Weiss, an American riding for Guinness Seahawks. Ian Smith riding for Megabytes is third. Giovanni Choto of CB Misfits is in fourth. Chris Harkey, an American riding for Guinness Seahawks is in fifth. Bill Elliston, he rides for Sun Digital Photo is in sixth place. Shane Vasquez, who rides for Guinness Seahawks, is in seventh. Danilo Quetzil, the Guatemalan riding for Sun Digital Photo, he has to settle for eighth place. His Guatemalan team-mate Luis Santiago, who rides for M&M, he took ninth place, while Ernest Meighan of Santino rounds out the top ten.

In the meantime, Marlon Castillo ended up with both the yellow jersey and the white indicating that he was the best under twenty-three rider in the tour.

Ernest Meighan emerges with the green for the best sprinter. Ernest ?Dangalang? Thurton was determined to be the best Cat three and four rider, so he gets to wear grey. We certainly send out congratulations; while Bill Elliston captured the king of the mountains polka dot jersey. Yeah Bill, you deserve it.

Turning to the cricket scene, let?s head to Lord?s Bank for Saturday?s rural cricket match-up where Sunrise of Lord?s Bank plays host to Surprise of Lemonal.

It?s Sunrise batting, chasing a score of one hundred and thirty runs. But they would fall short totalling only one hundred and twelve points for all out. It?s their second loss in a row. Denfield Bull led Surprise with forty-three runs, while Edward Bull struck for four wickets. For Sunrise, Dorian Gabb hits thirty-seven runs; Lori Herrera struck down four wickets.

Hey folks, that?s our show for today. We invite you back same time, same place, next week. Jah over all, I?m James Adderley.