BY DEAN GREENAWAY

After a year off from cycling, Phillippe Leroy returned with a vengeance this season.  Sunday, he sealed his fourth overall BVI Cycling Federation crown, after breaking the 10K time trial record by 20 seconds. 

Leroy who rode last of the 15 cyclists, demolished John Miller’s year old 15 minutes 08.29 seconds course record with a time of 14:46.51. He chopped two minutes off his previous best. Jean-Pierre Bacle, a 10 year visitor to the BVI who works at Island Resources Foundation, but has never raced here, made his debut with a second placed 15:15.54 seconds time. Darel ‘Hit Man’Christopher was third after setting the pace in 15:44.16. The 6.2 mile course took riders from Nanny Cay westwards to Cox Heath and return.
Leroy said he wanted to win, “But knowing that Jean-Pierre from the United States was here and he’s in the top 10 masters, I was worried he would beat me and I went as hard as I could,” Leroy stated afterwards. Leroy said he was hoping to go a bit faster than the 14:46, but there was a side wind. “Usually, there’s a steady headwind going towards West End and it’s against you coming back,” he pointed out. “That’s the way I like it because there’s no side wind on some of the corners and you can go a lot faster.”
No one except Leroy knew Bacle, coming off last week’s World Duathlon Championships in Switzerland where he was 41st in the 50-54 age group would be his main rival. “It’s fast. I’m not accustomed to the speed bumps and road conditions. Besides, it’s not my bike,” Bacle explained of the 6.2 mile race for which he said he took him a longer warm up. “I’m not looking for excuses but it’s a fast group of people. I read about the race on the internet and decided to time my trip to coincide with the race.  There are some awesome riders here. I’ll be back in October for the Jason Bally race. Next time, I’ll try to beat Phillippe.”

Cycling Federation president David Thomas who was sixth described the time trial as ‘hard.’ “This time trial never ceases to surprise you,” Thomas said. “It’s the shortest race of the season, but it’s so hard, but it was really good. We had 15 riders today. It was really good for me,” Thomas continued. “I beat Jim (Cullimore), Steve (Marsh) and Tito (Clifton Forbes) today after being injured a couple weeks ago and not really training hard this year. I really feel good about that.”

Thomas said Leroy is in phenomenal shape this year. Leroy says he’s happy to be the BVI cycling champion again. “I was off from cycling for a year and I just started again. I’m very pleased with the result.”
The next race is the Sept. 17 East End Wall, followed by the 4th Jason Bally Memorial 100K on October 5.

Final results. Men: 1. Phillippe Leroy, 14 minutes, 46.51 seconds. 2. Jean-Pierre Bacle, 15:15.54. 3. Darel Christopher, 15:44.16. 4. Conrad ‘Manny’ Emmanuel, 16:39.54. 5. Neil Thomas, 16:40.64. 6. David Thomas, 17:45.27. 7. Steve Marsh, 18:03.44. 8. Jim Cullimore, 18:05.27. 9. Clifton ‘Tito’ Forbes, 19:04.29. 10. Laurens Blok, 19:10.70. 11. Tom Merrigan, 20:18.82. 12. Joe Giacinto, 20:46.18. 13. Sam Tucker, 22:44.17.
Women: 1. Sarah Eades, 21:11.40. 2. Tamika George, 27:50.01. Dnf. Patlian Johnson.