Antigua's Robert Marsh about to win the John T. Memorial race!

THE VALLEY, Anguilla—When Chris Ghiorse got a cramp and cried out in pain during the late stages of Sunday’s Anguilla 75-mile John T. Memorial race, BVI Cycling Federation director of International Affairs David Thomas, turned to Ghiorse’s wife Victoria and said, ‘Chris is going to give Mash (Robert) the race.’

Marsh and Ghiorse had broken from the pack on the second of the 25-mile three lap race and came out of the hill in Sandy Ground with a lead of over three minutes on the rest of the 64 man field.

Although the charging chase pack cut into the lead, Marsh and Ghiorse had a secure advantage. As they approached the finish line, Ghiorse lifted his hands in the air to cheer Antigua’s March—who won last weekend’s Tour de Tortola—to victory as both were credited with a 3 hour 39 minutes 45 seconds time.

Comming out of Sandy Ground.

When Ghiore cramped, Marsh turned back and waited for him. “It was better to wait and when he recovered, we would have still gone faster than if I had gone by myself. It’s much better to work like that,” Marsh summarized. “He also told me he wouldn’t challenge me for the first place. He just wanted to come second, as long as I brought him over the hills, he would be satisfied with that and we just worked out it out that way.”

Ghiorse said while he came to win, he felt under the weather when the race began and he knew he’d have an off day, but hoped things would have worked themselves out as the race progressed. “I never cramp in a race—usually, the longer the race the better I get—but, it was the opposite today,” Ghiorse recalled. “Marsh knows I’m a strong rider and if I’m not pulling my share, he wanted to know what was going on and if I was going to out sprint him in the end. I said ‘look Robert, I’ll help you where I can.’”

Ghiorse said Marsh knows him well and his word is good and that’s the way honorable cycling goes. “We made an agreement on the road—that’s not to belittle what we did—we worked our butts off—and thankfully, there were enough strong guys (behind) but they were hesitant to do the work themselves,” Ghiorse noted.

Comming back from East End.

“We used that to our advantage. If I was coming in with 10 guys, I would have finished 10th because of how I was feeling. I came in with one and finished second.”

Marsh said the race was hard but there were good tactics and he was also happy to win races on successive weekends. “I’m on a roll,” he said laughing. “This race is a very big race around the Caribbean. There are a lot of spectators and I feel good winning it.”

Results(Times and positions only available to 20 places)

1. Robert Marsh, Antigua 3 hours, 40 minutes, 04 seconds. 2. Chris Ghiorse, BVI S.T. 3. Dwayne Gibbs, Guyana 3'40:38; 4. Marlon Williams, Guyana 3'40:39. 5. Claude Richardson, Anguilla 3'41:01. 6. Charles Bryan, Anguilla 3'41:02. 7. Godfrey Pollydore, Guyana 3'41:02. 8. Lyn Murray, Antigua 3'41:05. 9. Stephen Mangroo, Trinidad 3'41:08.

Trinidad's Mangroo leads Chris and the rest of the peleton out of Sandy Ground.

10. Tyron Thomas, Grenada 3'41:08. 11. Sherwin Osbourne, Guyana 3'41:08. 12. Kris Pradel, Anguilla 3'41:12. 13. Danny Laud, Anguilla 3'41:51. 14. Vinish Narine, Guyana 3'45:32. 15. Winston Williams, St. Lucia 3'45:51. 16. David Hinds, Guyana 3'48:50. 17. Danny Donelan, Grenada 3'52:03. 18. Travis Richardson, Anguilla 3'57:35. 19. Patrick Peters, Antigua 3'57:35. 20. Neil Llyod, Antigua 3'57:43.

Neil in the full tuck position going down the hill into Sandy Ground.

© Copyright 2003 BVI Cycling Federation

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