The world's third quickest sprint cyclist Robert Forstemann of Germany awed the crowd on the second day of the inaugural Njisane Three-Day Cycling Festival, which continued on Saturday, when he captured one of the highlight events, the DirecTV raffle sprint, with a win over Venezuela's top rider Hersony Canelon.
Forstemann faced Canelon in the final and took victory after beating local rider Adam Alexander in the last four stage, when the competition moved to Skinner Park, San Fernando. Alexander would be the second T&T athlete to get dropped at the stage in the raffle sprint, as tournament host Njisane Phillip, the crowd favourite was eliminated by Canelon, who is ranked 21 places higher than the Trinidadian in UCI track world rankings. Though Phillip took third, he would once again shine with a win in the men's international 10-lap.
The women's version of the DirecTV raffle sprint was captured by Cuban Lisandra Guerra. Guerra defeated Olga Streltsova, after losing her first race. Steph McKenzie and Natasha Hansen took third and fourth, respectively.
Among the races was an international BMX event challenged by 10 top cyclists, of whom were perhaps too large for the frames, competing for a chance to win a bike (sponsored by Bike Smith CC) for a child.
Fittingly, Gene Samuel, a local retired cyclist and a crowd favourite, won the race among the men, while Hansen took the women's race.
All fun was put aside in 20-lap men's international endurance event. Spanish rider Albert Torres took the race by 0.007 seconds at the expense of Asian sensation Josiah Ng of Malaysia.
More of the same top level of competition and camaraderie were expected last evening on the third and final day of the inaugural competition, which continued and concluded at Skinner Park, from 6 pm.
International Men Seven laps
1st- Njisane Phillip (Team 1)
2nd- Kwesi Browne (Team 2)
3rd- Gene Samuel (Team 1)
4th- Hersony Canelon (Team 1)
International & Senior Women Seven laps
1st- Olga Streltsova (Team 2)
2nd- Elena Brezhniva (Team 3)
3rd- Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Team 1)
4th- Natasha Hansen (Team 3)
Direct TV Raffle Sprint International Men
1st- Robert Forstemann (Team 2)
2nd- Hersony Canelon (Team 1)
3rd- Njisane Phillip (Team 1)
4th- Quincy Alexander (Team 5)
DirecTV Raffle Sprint International & Senior Women
1st- Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Team 1)
2nd- Olga Streltsova (Team 2)
3rd- Stephanie McKenzie (Team 2)
4th- Natasha Hansen (Team 3)
Celebrity Race 2 lap
1st- Kernel Roberts
2nd- Shal Marshall
3rd- Jason Williams
Junior Women Three laps
1st- Cheyenne Awai (AWCC)
Tinymite Women Three laps
1st- Chenelle Walcott (Madonna)
2nd- Jhordan St George (Madonna)
3rd- Tisha Lee Figueroa (Madonna)
Juvenile Women Three laps
1st- Joy Abigail John (AWCC)
2nd- Khollyn St George (Madonna)
3rd- Dominique Lovell (AWCC)
Juniors Three laps
1st- Joshua Kelly (Sonics)
2nd- Liam Lovell (Bar)
3rd- Edwin Sutherland (Bar)
4th- Barrington Perreira (Bike Smith)
Tinymites Two laps win-and-out
1st- Jacob Kelly (Sonics)
2nd- Tyler Cole (Sonics)
3rd- Akeem Lopez (Mad)
Juveniles Elimination
1st- David Zacharry Orr (Bike Smith)
2nd- Sei Daniel (AWCC)
3rd- Kristoff Frontin (Sonics)
4th- Ramon Belmontes (Petrotrin)
Elite-4 Three laps
1st- Brent Wells (Bike Smith)
2nd- Ivan Puckering (G4S Team Swift)
3rd- Desmond Nedd (Bike Smith)
4th- Robindranath Balgobin (Hummingbird)
Elite-3 Three laps
1st- Jonathan Harding (Madonna)
2nd- Brendon Phillip (Southclaine)
3rd- Roger Malco Team (Foundation)
4th- Sylvester Joseph (Southampton)
International & Senior Women Two lap (Handicap)
1st- Elena Brezhniva (Team 3)
2nd- Natasha Hansen (Team 3)
3rd- Olga Streltsova (Team 2)
4th- Juliana Rendon (Team 3)
International Men Two lap (Handicap)
1st- Fabian Purta Zapata (Team 2)
2nd- Valentin Savitsky (Team 3)
3rd- Kwesi Browne (Team 2)
4th- Tomas Babek (Team 3)
Masters 40-49 Five laps
1st- Roger Smart (Madonna)
2nd- Rocky Hosein (Hummingbird)
3rd- Ancil Roberts (Sonics)
4th- Cecil Hackett (Bike Smith)
Masters 50-59 Five laps
1st- Clyde Pollinais (Southclaine)
2nd- Wayne Samuel (Southclaine)
3rd- George Luft (USA)
4th- Earl Clifford (Parkside)
Masters 60+ Four laps
1st- Pat Nelson (Team Trek)
2nd- Earl La Fond (Unattached)
3rd- Kent Luces (Sonics)
4th- Godfrey Clyne (Southclaine)
Elite-2 Elimination
1st- Jude Codrington (Petrotrin)
2nd- Michael Phillips (Mikes Bikes)
3rd- Ako Kellar (Testi Cicli)
4th- Troy Nelson (Bike Smith)
Elite-1 Elimination
1st- Kaleb Koch (USA)
2nd- Barry Luces (Sonics)
3rd- Jovian Gomez (Team DPS)
4th- Warren Mc Kay (Team Trek)
International BMX Race
(Two bikes sponsored by Bike Smith CC)
Men's winner- Gene Samuel
Women's winner- Natasha Hansen
International Men Elimination
1st- Adam Ptacnik (Team 5)
2nd- Albert Torres (Team 4)
3rd- Darren Matthews (Team 1)
4th- Varun Maharajh (Team 1)
International & Senior Women
1st- Hannah Walker (Team 2)
2nd- Shelby Reynolds (Team 2)
3rd- Juliana Rondon (Team 3)
4th- Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Team 1)
?