Jamol Eastmond may be a newcomer to cycling’s senior division. But just two months into the new year his winning ways are starting to get old.
Eastmond, who represents Rockets Cycling Club, continued his dominance on the road by winning the Barbados Cycling Union’s (BCU) two-hour criterium on the Six Roads, St Philip circuit in grand style yesterday.
The win was his third in three starts after capturing the season’s opening circuit race last week, and then riding unbeaten during the BCU’s first track league event at the Randolph Field Velodrome.
The 18-year-old, triathlete Jason Wilson, Stuart Maloney and arch rival Russell Elcock broke away from the main pack of 53 riders at the halfway stage of the gruelling race.
However, by the time the bell was rung to signal the final two laps, Elcock and Eastmond had sped to the front, setting the pace for what eventually turned out to be a scintillating finish.
It was Eastmond who eventually pulled away with just over 150 metres left, raising his hands in triumph as he crossed the finish line, some ten metres ahead of the second-placed Elcock (AMOND Fusion).
G4S Team Swift representative Wilson, who was using the event as preparation for Sunday’s Pan American Cup Sprint Triathlon, finished third.
“The first lap was very disappointing,” Eastmond told NATIONSPORT in an interview after yesterday’s victory.
“But I told myself to just stick in there, wait my turn and be patient. My plan was to make my move on the final two laps and everything worked out perfectly,” he noted.
The teenage sensation will now turn his sights on qualifying for the Pan American Games, with trials to be held on Wednesday and February 15.
Independent rider Maloney convincingly won the Masters division, ahead of G4S Team Swift’s Gregory Catwell and A Class Battery Golden Wheelers’ Reggie Jones. In the over-50 category, Ronald “Yankee” Harding of AMOND?Fusion triumphed over Velo-Caribe’s John Proverbs.
Canadian champion triathlete, Sarah-Anne Brault (G4S Team Swift), who will also be participating in the Sprint Triathlon, edged out Esther Miller-Rosemond of AMOND Fusion to take the women’s title, with Velo Caribe’s Marissa Bradshaw third.
Jesse Kelly of G4S Team Swift was the lone participant in the Juniors category, while his younger brother Joshua Kelly beat Gregory Vanderpool (AMOND Fusion) and Edwin Sunderland (A Class Battery Golden Wheelers) to take first place in the Juveniles category.
Not to be left out, Ajani Miller of AMOND FUSION was the top finisher in the Tiny Mites division, followed by G4S Team Swift’s Jacob Kelly and Golden Wheelers’ Andrew James.
