After riding 140 miles, Belizean American Justin Williams has won the 87th Annual Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic.
107 riders signed up for the 2015 race at the BTL Park on the morning of April 4, and at around 6 a.m., they took off for the ceremonial ride through the City. Just past the Faber’s Road Junction, the race began in earnest, and from about mile 18, the race started to take shape. A group of 7 elite riders separated themselves from the main peloton. Among those riders were Justin Williams, and his brother Corey, who were riding for Team Bel Cal. The way that these riders managed to escape so early was by cooperating with each other, taking turns on the pace while everyone stayed on their wheel. Just before the Belmopan Junction, 4 chasers managed to catch them, and so that group of 7 became a group of 11.
They travelled all the way to Cayo and back enjoying leads of between 3 minutes and 5 minutes ahead of the main peloton. Just before Deadman’s Curve, two riders from the main group of eleven were left behind. As the miles kept going by, others started falling behind, unable to keep up with the pace and the gap increased to almost 6 minutes.
Through it all, the two brothers kept in the main bunch, encouraging each rider in the lead to contribute to the pace. Heading back to Belize City, rider after rider was left behind, until only 5 remained.
Heading into Hattieville, the 5 riders managed to keep it together, even though at that time, they had already ridden over 120 miles at a pace greater than the main peloton and the chase group of 12.
Heading past the Lord Ridge Cemetery those five riders who were for the most part in control of the race, and who were battling for the garland, were Mexican Yahir Jimenez Godinez, brothers Justin and Corey Williams, David Henderson Jr., and American Scottie Weisse.
For the last few hundred meters, the strongest riders were Weisse and Justin Williams, and they ended up sprinting to the finish line in front of BTL Park, to a crowd of Belize City supporters. Those observers roared to life embracing Williams with respect that a Belizean had won over American Scottie Weisse.
Shortly after Williams and Weisse crossed the finish line, Belizean David Henderson managed to hang on and come in third. Fourth place was Mexican Yahir Jimenez Godinez, and Justin’s brother, Corey, placed 5th in the race. He declared to the press that the objective had been achieved; he rode the race as hard as he did so that Justin Williams could conserve energy for a sprint to the tape.
The Williams brothers have strong ties not only to Belize, but to the cycling community as well. They are the sons of Callyman Williams, a well-known former cyclist. They have other family ties to other prominent cyclists who have either won, or performed excellently in past races.
