St. Croix's Robert Bumann smiling after winning the 7th annual Jason Bally Memorial race.

TORTOLA—St. Croix’s Robert Bumann launched his attack with 10 miles to go, then went on to a convincing four minute victory over Antigua’s Robert Marsh and the British Virgin Islands’ Chris Ghiorse, to easily win Sunday’s seventh annual Jason Bally Memorial 100K on Tortola.

Bumann won the 60-mile race from Road Town to West End out to Beef Island and returning to West End before a Road Town finish, in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 35 seconds. “It was a fight between Robert and Chris until the second time at the West End turnaround and I could see the guys were suffering, especially Chris was suffering badly,” Bumann noted. “But, I didn’t want to take Chris to the finish line for a sprint, because I know he’s a fast guy, so I attacked right after the turnaround. It was tough because we had a strong headwind, but, my strength is time trialing so I went on my own. Chris was in no condition to chase me, so Robert was on his own. I got a good gap on him and kept the pace.”

Marsh said Bumann was the stronger man. “I couldn’t’ follow him,” he said. “I was at the front at the time and he was at the back resting, then he attacked. I didn’t have the horse power to follow him today, so I just left him alone and concentrated on holding off the other guys behind.”

Ghiorse said Bumann and Marsh had gears that he didn’t have. “It was obvious that Bumann was going to win today because of his strength, no matter what,” Ghoirse said. “When he took off, it was like ‘see you later’ so Marsh and I worked it so that no one else caught us because of all the work we did over the hills. We worked for our second and third. There was no free ride today.”

St. Croix’s Sue Brown who won the women’s race in 1 hour 33 minutes, was planning on recovering and had been spinning when the pack caught up with her and she decided to continue and finished 13th overall. “I recovered and though I’d do the extra miles as training,” she noted. “But I suffered a little on the end and regretted it. I was like ‘why did I do this?’ But, it was OK. I’m glad I did the whole thing.”

The cyclists paying tribute to Jason Bally.

Although the race attracted just 31 participants, BVI Cycling Federation president David Thomas said it was very competitive and he was happy. “You could see that Robert Bumann was just heads and shoulders above everybody else,” Thomas said. “This is the level that our guys are going to meet at any of the regional championships. I think it was very good to have him here and it was a very good event.”

Main Course 60 Miles: 1. Robert Bumann, St. Croix, 2 hours, 23 minutes and 35 seconds. 2. Robert Marsh, Antigua, 2:27:35. 3. Chris Ghiorse, BVI, 2:27.58. 4. Patricio Carty, St. Martin, 2:29.11. 5. Benitez Edwards, St. Martin, 2:29.53. 6. Joel Nankman, St. Maarten, 2:29.53. 7. John Riggs, St. Croix, 2:30.05. 8. Paul Trivino, St. Croix, 2:33.30. 9. Glen Massiah, St. Croix, 2:39.04. 10. Juancito Gario, St. croix, 2:38.04. 11. Mark Smith, BVI, 2:38.27. 12. Gareth Thomas, BVI, 2:38.27. 13. Sue Brown, St. Croix, 2:38.29. 14. Dewayne Smith, St. Croix, 2:38.34. 15. Cumber Greaux, 2:38.54. 16. Ira Fabian, Antigua, 2:46.58. 17. Jose Diaz, St. Croix, (40 miles) 1:42.13. 18. Keble McDonald, 1:58.07. Dnf: Neil Thomas, Anthony Spenser, Matthew Collins.

Women: 1. Sue Brown, St. Croix, 1:33.08. 2. Lisa Adamson, 1:34.16. 3. Dara Smith, 2:01.31. 4. Patlian Johnson, 2:08.06. 5. Judy Haycraft, 2:20.34. 6. Yeganey Guley, 2:58.36. (40 miles)

Juniors: 1. Darel Christopher Jr., 1:33.45

Fun/Novice: 1. Deane Fonseca, 52:11. 2. Bevern Sage, St. Croix, 59:27. 3. Simon Cook, 1:56.47. (20 miles).

And they're off...31 cyclists compete in the 7th annual Jason Bally Memorial race.

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