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Can A Belizean Really Win Cross Country 2012? Experts Say...
posted (April 5, 2012)
The 84th. Annual Cross Country Cycling Classic will start on Saturday at 6:00 am from in front of Leslie's Imports. The final number of riders who will start the race is being finalized at a technical meeting which is being held right now. But what we do know is that only a very small number of foreign riders will be participating in this year's race.

And that means, that for the time in years, A Belizean cyclist has a fair chance of winning. That sounds like good news for Belizean fans who've been longing for a hometown victory since Shane Vasquez did it in 2006. But it the great Belizean hope for real? Or is it just hype? We went out on the road this morning to find out more:..

Jules Vasquez reporting
Byron Pope, The Choto Brothers, Darnell Barrow -are some of the names being talked about as contenders for this year's Cross Country.

Perry Gibson - Manager Benny's Megabytes
"I think that this is one of the best years ever for a Belizean to win just based on the numbers that I am presuming will participate in the event. This is our best year."

That's because this year many of the foreign names who have been at the front fo every cross country for the past two decades will be absent - and a good number of them will be missing from santino's and its affiliated teams:

Hon. Santino Castillo Jr. - Owner/Manager/Rider, Team Santinos
"This year, I'm fielding a team for the very first time in as long as I can remember without foreigners. And I did that because the foreigners that I was going to bring had the potential of winning the race, and I wanted to - for this one time - no Belizean team in any of the races this year, Krem Classic, Valentines, or Belmopan, brought any foreigners. So I said that we've done it so far this year, let's continue it."

But that's not the feeling of Benny's Megabytes:

Perry Gibson
"While the other times might not be bringing foreigners this year, they've always brought, and we started with not bringing foreigners for the first five years. So, that's part of the game."

Jules Vasquez
"Which foreigners will you bring? Are they any known names?"

Perry Gibson
"I'll be bringing 2 Mexicans, a past champion and a guy that I brought two years ago."

That past Champion is Carlos Lopez - who won the Cross Country in 2009 - so how will Bennys make sure he doesn't win again this year?:

Jules Vasquez
"We always hear that the strategy is supposed for the locals, but it never ends up like that. The foreigner always ends up winning."

Perry Gibson
"I think that it is just for the lack of tactics in the race that allows that to happen. The foreigners make a move before the locals do. We're too - we are not as aggressive in the last part of the race. We're conserving to reach the line. We have to win. My foreigners are coming to try to get a Belizean to win. We need to have the garland back at home with a Belizean."

And for Benny's that Belizean is National Road Champion, Byron Pope, he says it is the stuff of dreams:

Jules Vasquez
"Have you visualized wearing the garland, winning the race?"

Byron Pope - National Road Champion
"Every day, I visualize this, Jules, I try to go to sleep with it on my mind, sometimes I wake up during the night, and I go right back to sleep trying to be calm until that day comes."

That day is on Saturday - and today - the riders took a leisurely short tide - to Hattieville and back - the keep their legs fresh but not tired.

Darnell Barrow got a flat - which in this game of auspices and superstitions is a kind of good luck - better to get it today than on race day.

After being so close last year - finishing fifth after being dropped in this attack at mile two - he says luck plays a large part in this:

Darnell Barrow - Finished 5th Last Year
"Last year, I came in 5th, and this year, I expect better."

Jules Vasquez
"What is your physical condition? Do you have the miles in you? Have you been training?"

Darnell Barrow
"Jules, you can have everything, without luck, everything you have doesn't come to effect. So, I can just say that I got 100% - I did the miles, because anything can happen. You can get punctured; you can get caught up in a crash. All that training then goes to waste. So, you have to depend upon a little bit of luck."

And the savvy old veteran Michael Lewis - who is riding in his 28th and he says final cross country - says, indeed, luck plays a large part in how the race unfolds:

Michael Lewis - Riding 28th Cross Country
"This race, I won't tell you any lie, this race is luck. You can be in the best of shape, and you don't have luck the day, you are then wasting your time. I rather take the luck, instead of taking the conditioning."

And as his good luck charm, Lewis wore a retro jersey today - from 1992:

Jules Vasquez
"You're wearing - I see a jersey here - Arnold Welding. I know that no longer exists, and BCB no longer exists, so what is the significance of this jersey."

Michael Lewis
"This Jersey is 1992 when I won. I pulled it out on Sunday Morning to see if it still fits, and it still fits the body that wore it 20 years ago. There is no man out here who can wear a jersey 20 years ago, and still put it on."

Lewis who always has some odd angles on cycling says his young peers don't have the wisdom or will to win the race

Michael Lewis
"You can give these young guys anything that you want, and if they don't want it, they will not get it. Trust me, you can give them gold. One of them threw a stone at me. he told me that I won all my race sitting down, but I told him that I won it sitting down, he is sitting down, and he hasn't won anything. Listen what's the difference now. When I train in the morning, I train for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. These cyclist train for 1 1/2 hours, and they then talk for 40 minutes out here, 40 minutes that they need to be on the road. This year is one of the worst years that I've seen in Belize City, where the men didn't put in much work. Right now, I think that the Cayo team is the best team that I've seen on the calendar. Like what I explained to them, there are two kinds of cyclist. Belize cyclists are what I call the sitters - I too am a sitter, but I won sitting down. The Cayo men are runners; those men will run from the race start until the race end."

But on Saturday - the talking will stop - the race will be to the swiftest, the strongest and, yes, the luckiest.

So for the next two nights, these men and their machines will be dreaming of a ring of roses around their necks:

Dwight Lopez - Team BELCAL
"Everybody who jumps on a bike, always in their minds, believes that they could win one day, and you know what, it's possible for anybody. You just have to go out there and do your best."

Perry Gibson
"Jules, I've been dreaming for the past week every night. I dream the same thing every night - my jersey crossing the line in 1st place, solo."

Dwight Lopez
"But, it's just one of those things that you just dream about, and if it happens, then it happens."

And the bounty on a Belizean win is even higher this year. The prize for the first place finisher is five thousand dollars sponsored by Belikin. But if that winner is a Belizean, they get an additional five thousand dollars from the Ministry of Sports and five thousand more from United Insurance.

You can see the beginning and the end of the race here on Channel 7 as we team up with KREM TV and Radio to bring you live coverage from the start and finish lines.

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