Cycling Through the Weekend on St. Croix

It was an exciting morning on St Croix as cyclists and spectators gathered on Sunday to see who would be declared champion in each of the six cycling categories, according to the Virgin Islands Cycling Federation.

The Virgin Islands Cycling Federation held two days of events, including the VICF Individual Time Trial Championship on Saturday and the Governor’s Cup Road Race Championship on Sunday. The champion was decided by adding the finish times of both races; the cyclist with the lowest combined time became the 2023 Champion in his/her respective racing category, according to the press release.

Besides enduring the strong wind and relentless sun, several cyclists experienced issues that caused them a great delay or abandonment of the race. It’s unusual to witness two crashes, a broken derailleur, a broken shifter, a flat tire and broken handlebars within one race, but that’s what happened on Sunday, the press release stated.

The Governor’s Cup Road Race Championship was sponsored by the Office of the Government and the V.I. Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation, and the news of the allocated prize money added to the excitement of the race. Besides a money prize for the top three finishers in each category, a special prime award was given to the first cyclist to reach a designated location on the race course. St Croix administrator from the Office of the Government, Sammuel Sanes, was present to hand out the awards, the release stated.