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Sounds kind of harum scarum to see that it preceded the ride of his life. But happenstance is how he got into cycling in the first place when he started riding on, of all things, a beach cruiser! Today he came to our studio to tell us how he went from that humble beginning to cruising across the finish line first after he rode the whole race like a shadow:

Darnell Barrow - 2013 Cross Country Champion
"The feeling, the feeling is still unbelievable. That is the feeling, I still have to deal with it, and I still don't believe that I finally pulled it off. It's overwhelming."

Jules Vasquez
"Now, you're nationally known, everyone knows who you are, and everybody wants some of your time, or just to watch them or say their name."

Darnell Barrow
"Well it's a great feeling. I finally get to feel how the all - past champions feel, so I guess I have that now, I have - I get that feeling, I get that."

Jules Vasquez
"Your name is now written in history, but when you did you start riding?"

Darnell Barrow
"I started on beach-cruiser, my same beach-cruiser I went to primary school with. I have my friends from Coral Grove that used to go out - they had racer bikes before me, and I go and I follow them on beach-cruiser, all the way to Rock View and back. I decided that I would get a meter because I would want to know how fast I'm going. I put a meter on the handle bar, do 18 mile an hour 19 an hour, I took right in, then my uncle said 'boy, I will get you a racer bike'. Kenneth Butler gave me a frame, I set it up and I start to ride it on that."

Jules Vasquez
"Now you have ridden the second fastest time in this race, more than that it was against adverse winds and this is the fastest race a Belizean has ever ridden. First of all how did you do it and second: how does it make you feel?" Darnell Barrow
"Well how it do it is just riding smart, I didn't exert too much energy. I didn't try jump or go on any break away. That is not necessary. At mile 17, the whole group came back together so to me then, I said well the race just started now because everyone is back. So, for me, I to just ride smart, and just pick the move that going or go with any move that goes. Anybody that tries to break away I must be there to win. Coming into the city was very intense because the journey of the race is a long race and the speed that we were coming in was very frightening, how comes this race is riding so fast, and we're coming to the finish. So, you're thinking a lot and that gives you a little rush, 'man, it's happening right here, this is it, do or die.' So coming on to the finish line that is when the desperation start to happen with the stronger guys and the weaker guys coming on to the line, so therefore you just need to position yourself at the right spot before the tape, before the sprint start. That is what I did, I just moved up, moved up, wait a little, see what's happening make sure that no one escaped, and when the line came, I did my part."

Jules Vasquez
"How did you prepare for the sprint and how did you know when to strike because in sprint all of it is time."

Darnell Barrow
"The Friday we had our team meeting, our coach told us that from the pedestrian - from the bump to the finish line is 160 meters and normally we Belizeans like to sprint maybe the last 100 meters or last 75 meters that is how we sprint. So, from I cleared the bump I knew that I had to be at the top fifth position to win this sprint. I can't be no more than fifth, sixth seventh eight ninth, I had to be up there in the top to win this sprint."

Jules Vasquez
"How did you see your strength as compare to them?"

Darnell Barrow
"I knew that I had a little bit more energye because coming to the sprint I had Brandon Cattouse, Gregory Lovell and the young boy Justin in front of me. When the Mexican guy rose up on the bike, I saw that that was the move that was going to happen. I also saw that these guys weren't moving as fast as I was, coming up, so I decided that this is it now, it's time for me to make my move I cannot wait no more. It's now or never, from now to the line, everything; no holding back."

Jules Vasquez
"Were you surprised that you were the first to cross the line?"

Darnell Barrow
"I was surprised, I mean I saw that tape and I said I could win this, an extra strength just came over me to let me just push."

Jules Vasquez
"What's the difference in finishing 3rd as you have before and finishing 1st?"

Darnell Barrow
"Well I have the garland around my neck; this is the difference right here"

Jules Vasquez
"I mean out there in the field, what - knowing what you do now, what does it take to win the race?"

Darnell Barrow
"Well I guess every year is a step. Every year, you need to learn new things, so for me to win now I guess I'm ahead of other guys,that might know more or less about how to prepare to win a Cross Country. So, I have that mindset that what I need to do to win a next Cross Country in the future."

Jules Vasquez
"You weren't the golden boy or the chosen one on Team Santinos."

Darnell Barrow
"That means that I don't have anyone looking at me, following me. I rode the race without any worry about who is holding me wheel; I rode the race at ease."

Jules Vasquez
"So the conventional thinking is that you can't win this race unless you have an entire team working for you, but how you are explaining how you won this race, is almost like you were operating like a shadow. You just looked on the men and you just move with those."

Darnell Barrow
"Exactly, that was my plan and I succeeded."

At 5:46:49, Darnell's ride was six minutes off the record set by American Ryan Bauman in 2008. And so, his finish becomes the fastest winning Cross Country ride for a Belizean ever. But he didn't come from nowhere; he was third last year and fifth in 2011. He's also finished 10th. and 13th in previous Cross Country Races.

And while foreigners came second and third, a Belizean Justin Williams form the Belizean Linkup team was fourth while Greg Lovell form Team Telemedia was fifth.