Steven Smith finished two minutes ahead of his VT Construction team-mate, Dominique Mayho, to win Category A in Sunday’s 3 Parish Road Race in a time of 1hr 42min 49sec.

The races started at police headquarters and all the riders in the four categories rode an eight-mile loop along Middle Road to Flatts Village and back to Prospect via Blackwatch Pass and Marsh Folly Road.

Category A riders completed five laps and the steep hill just before the finish made things exciting as riders needed to dig deep to battle the sprint and the climb, the heat and humidity all at the same time.

Smith met the challenge to finish ahead of Mayho who clocked a time of 1:48:11, while Alexander Miller finished third, just three seconds behind Mayho in 1:45:14. Brian Steinhoff was fourth in 1:45:31 and Kwame Curling fifth some six minutes behind and just five seconds ahead of sixth-place finisher Elliot Hubbard, a former champion.

Ashley Couper, also of VT Construction, won the women’s race over three laps in a time of 1:09:41, finishing just nine seconds ahead of Rose-Anna Hoey, also of VT Construction, who clocked 1:09:50.

It proved to be a good day for VT Construction as Philip Mace won Category B in a time of 1:24:15, 21 seconds ahead of Alan Mooney, of Team Gnosis. Clifford Roberts, of Bicycle Works, was third. The B riders competed over four laps and the C riders three laps.

VT Construction was not able to complete the clean sweep, as they did not have a rider in Category C, which was won by Chris Nusum, of Winners Edge, in a time of 1:05:57. Shannon Jennings, of Bicycle Works, was second in 1:05:59 and Anthony Smith third in an almost identical time.