Scott: I hope that it rains again this year
Wayne Scott believes any one of ten riders can win next week's Sinclair Packwood Memorial Cycling Race with the competition set to be bigger and stronger than ever before.With a record entry list expected for the race, there will be many riders at the start line that will feel they have what it takes for victory.Sprint specialist Scott held off the attention of his Winners Edge team-mates Mark Hatherley and Darren Glasford to seal victory last year, outduelling his rivals in the closing stages to finish in 29 minutes, 20.22 seconds, just a second ahead of Hatherley and Glasford.While with age comes experience, Scott says any one of a host of challengers could cross the line first, and hasn't ruled himself out either.“I'm riding but I definitely don't take cycling as serious as I used to and there are so many people riding that are better than ever before. It will be an interesting race.“There will be a host of people that can win the race this year, Darren Glasford, the younger guys in Tre'shun Correia and Dominique Mayho, any one of the guys from Madison, five or six of them can win it.”Scott is one of, if not the most successful rider in the history of the event only one of two riders to win three Packwood titles while also claiming two seconds and two thirds.In his title win last year the conditions saw rain and wind from angles meeting the riders at every turn on the 13-mile course.On a day that is traditionally sunny and humid, it was the wind and rain that played the biggest role, claiming riders early and often.The list of casualties on the day included Arthur Pitcher and Garth Thomson who crashed twice to leave him thinking about what could have been.Scott, himself, is hoping for the same weather this time around, admitting that he isn't what he used to be regarding fitness and is hoping to stay in the pack as they head into Hamilton.“My goal is to get into town with everyone and see how it goes from there,” he said.“I'm hoping for rain again this year. It has been a successful race for me.“Only one other person has won three Packwood races and I also have two seconds and two thirds in my seven years of racing.“That record is probably more successful than anyone else in the past but that is in the past and I'm not the same person I was a few years ago.“Last year's race stayed together for so long because of the conditions and I can ride my bike pretty good so the rain doesn't bother me.“Once it gets on Front Street, the race changes completely and becomes anyone's race so hopefully I can be in there until the final stages.”
A record number of cyclists will take part in the May 24 race, and there won't be a tourist among them.
Nearly 90 competitors are expected to race next Tuesday, and such is the local interest that organisers have been forced to change the way they start proceedings.
There had been rumours that the field would be split into A and B classes, with the two groups starting a minute of so apart.
However Bermuda Bicycling Association president Peter Dunne said time constraints made that impossible. Instead, organisers will call the quickest riders to the front and line up the rest of the field accordingly.
“The A guys get to go to the front, they are faster, they are stronger, so we are just going to line them up in that way,” he said. “We don't have the time (for two).”
Top racers are identified by their performances in the BBA's local racing, and is also used as a qualifier for the May 24 event.
Only those cyclists who have competed in two local races can take part, ruling out newcomers and overseas entrants.
“We don't make any money off the event so there is no motivation to add tourists,” said Dunne. “We give consideration to former winners, but other than that you need to have been here long enough to have raced in two or three races this season to enter.”
Still, tourists or no, Dunne is expecting it to be a fast and furious affair with the cyclists and their teams battling it out from Somerset to the finish line on Cedar Avenue. “We expect it to be very fast at the front,” he said. “It's definitely going to be a real battle between the teams.”
