January 20, 2012Dear Sir,Can someone please help me understand about May 24th events?Last year the cyclists, which included juniors/teenagers, females and seniors, were supposed to leave Somerset at 8.50am. They were told prior to the race that they had to cross BUEI by 9.25am as the junior road running race was due to begin at 9.30am. This did not seem like enough time given for some of the juniors and seniors to make it to BUEI. Then, there apparently was an accident near Heron Bay which delayed the cyclists start until 9.05am. When the juniors, some females and some seniors reached BUEI they were told to pull over, that they could not continue to the finish line. Some obeyed but others walked up further and the continued riding to the finish line.How could anyone tell these riders that they could not finish? This race, the Sinclair Packwood Memorial Race, is a part of Bermuda’s heritage too. However, the cyclists are treated like step children, like their race is not as important as the other events taking place. All the runners get to finish their race/walk no matter how long they take and the parade finishes even though it takes hours. Why can’t all the cyclists finish their race? I don’t think it is fair to the cyclists. Why couldn’t they start the junior road race at 9am, the same time as the riders left Somerset? This way those runners would have been finished by time the riders arrived in Hamilton. Or, they could have started the juniors running race at 10am, after the riders had gone through. I would like some answers from someone about this and I pray that it is better organised this upcoming year so that all the cyclists can complete their race. We are trying to encourage our young people to get involved in positive things this disappointing turn of events is not the way to do it they may not want to ride again.A CONCERNED PARENTSouthampton