Cyclist Jason Bally to be remembered with Sunday’s 100K

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

More than 30 regional cyclists will join their BVI counterparts on Sunday in a 100 Kilometer (62.5 mile) race, as the BVI Cycling Federation honors the memory of Trinidadian cyclist Jason Bally, who was slain in Sea Cows Bay three years ago.

Sunday’s proceedings convenes at 9:30 a.m. with a memorial prayer and singing, just west of Domino’s Gas Station in Sea Cows Bay, where Bally’s body was found and a plaque bearing his name and flowers on a pole marks the spot. At 10 a.m. a memorial procession will begin from Sea Cows Bay, through Road Town and up to the Port Purcell Roundabout and head back to Sea Cows Bay. The 100K race will begin at the Old Festival Village site, head to West End, return to the College, back to West End, then to the Port Purcell Roundabout, to the Prospect Reef Roundabout with one last go around the Port Purcell Roundabout before finishing between the James Frett Building and the Labor Department.

The procession segment is open to anyone with a bicycle, but those choosing to race will be required to pay the $20 entry fee. The race will have divisions for road and mountain bikes with cyclists competing for more than $2,500 in prize money.

“We should have some really, really good racing on that day and I’m urging the public to come out to support and see it,” BVICF president David Thomas said. “If you’ve never a cycling race before you would really enjoy this. Right now, we have 32 people confirmed and that’s going to be some of the most exciting road and mountain bike racing you are going to see on this island.”

Chris Ghiorse who was among six riders in a blanket finish in the race won by Antigua’s Godfrey Pollydore last year, expects a great race. “Jason’s race is going to be exciting because there are going to be 30 or more unknown elements,” he says “All the riders coming from the different countries are fairly serious about cycling. Their countries have a more developed cycling program and it’s going to be a real bike race where there will be a lot of tactics and fitness coming into play. We’ll just have to see how it develops.”

Thomas says Outlaw Productions will be providing music through out the day. “This year’s race is shaping up to be really good. It’s our aim to make this one of the premier races in the Caribbean and I think we are well on our way to doing that.”