The Cayman Classic Cycling Series looked set for a competitive season, but at the start of the event at the beginning of May, no one could have predicted that the series would finish on a dead heat in the men’s division.
Going into the fifth and final event of the series on Sunday 29 May, the Reefathlon 19 mile individual time trial, there was a mere three points between series leader Steve Abbott and second placed Jerome Ameline. This meant that if Ameline won the event and Abbott finished in second place, they could theoretically end up locked together on points. This sent the Cayman Islands Cycling Association committee scrambling to find a satisfactory solution. What they came up with was that the highest number of first places would take it, or if that failed to break the tie, the highest numbers of second place finishes and so on down the ranking until a winner emerged.
Of course, with local course record holder Michele Smith only four points behind Ameline, he was not out of contention either.
In the ladies’ division, Pam Travers was relatively certain of maintaining her title, as she only have to finish the event to claim the series, should her closest competitor take the win in the time trial.
In the masters’ division, Chris Sutton had already secured the title at the previous event, as had Michael Testori in the juniors’ division. However, neither Sutton nor Testori were likely to rest on the laurels.
The cyclists set off in reverse order of their position on the points ladder, with Abbott set to close out the route.
Henry Streather surprised with a good early time of 45:56 that stood until Johan Heath managed to bump him off the top step of the podium with a time of 45:33. However, Chris Graham and TJ Oliver soon changed that as they lowered the time once again, with Graham heading home in 44:17 before Olivier became the first cyclist on the day to dip under 44 minutes, with a time of 43:54. Michael Stomps managed to go one second faster than Olivier, but all eyes were focussed on the final three starters, Smith, Ameline and Abbott. Although Smith was the first of the three to set off, he was not the first home, as a flying Ameline headed up the home straight to top the board with a ride of 42:00. Smith crossed the line seven seconds later, having been caught and passed by Ameline. However, his time of 43:07 was still good enough for second place at the time. Now all that remained was to see what Abbott could do. If he came in under 42 minutes, the series would be his. Over 43:07 and the trophy would go home with Ameline. As Abbott crossed the line, he was times at 42:35, putting him in second place and leading to a dead heat between Abbott and Ameline on the points table.
However, on count back, Abbott narrowly edged Ameline, who had to be content with second place once again in spite of his dominant performance on the day. Smith remained in third place in the series, followed by Stomps in fourth and a resurgent Olivier in fifth.
“The whole month was close. There are now about 10 strong riders out there, when previously there may have been three or four,” said series champion Abbott.
“Jerome was clearly back in the best form of his life, shown in the TT in which is missed the course record by just nine seconds, in awful weather conditions.”
Among the ladies, first time participant Carol Bell stormed to the best time of the day with an excellent time of 54:43, more than a minute faster than Donna Harding in second (55:50) with Travers securing the series title with a third place finish in 56:06. Caroline Cahill claimed second in the five race series, with Justine Plenkiewicz rounding out the podium.
“I am thrilled to have won the series for a second year and would like to encourage more female riders to come out and participate,” said Travers.
“The five separate races were all challenging in different respects, some you had to go as hard and fast as you could, others were about keeping, or at least trying to keep with the main pack whilst ensuring you remained well hydrated.”
Although Testori already had the junior title wrapped up before the final event, he kept his perfect record intact, taking the win in 49:02, well ahead of Toby Sutton who took second in 50:43 and also claimed second place in the series.
In the masters’ division, it was a very close race between series leader Sutton and Laurent Weber, with Sutton managing to eke out a narrow margin of victory, coming home in 46:54 versus Weber’s 47:09. Sutton retained his title in the masters’ division, with Weber in second and Bill Bewley taking third.
Abbott, who is the president of the Cayman Islands Cycling Association, thanked all the volunteers and participants for making the Cayman Classic Series a great success and also thanked Clement Reid for acting as race photographer for the Reefathlon, as well as Wil Bignal for taking on photography duties at a number of the other events in the series.
The next event on the local cycling calendar is the Velo Festival at Camana Bay, organised by 53//11 Crankers Cycling Club. The event will include a 10 mile time trial on Sunday 12 June, as well as a 65 mile road race on Monday 13 June and a criterium later that day.
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