Dubai: Riders from the UAE dominated the opening day of road cycling at the Third Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament held at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex late on Friday.
As many as 13 UAE riders finished with podium spots in the seven categories of cycling held to mark the annual competition. From these seven categories, three ended up with clean sweeps for UAE riders while the marquee social expats races were won by riders from the Philippines.
Hassan Al Manana, Chairman, Organising Committee was joined by Hassan Al Mazrouei, Tournament Director and Majid Al Attar, Assistant Tournament Director at the prize presentation ceremony held immediately after the race.
Apple Clarrizze Garcia did herself proud while winning the social expats female category ahead of Great Britain riders Lousia Jane Cairns and Pamela McCarthy, while her countryman Jan Kim Nasino took the honours in the expats male division.
Garcia finished the 70km distance in a time of one hour, 56.00 minutes flat to edge out Cairns and McCarthy who settled for second and third respectively a mere second behind the Filipina triathlete. “It is an honour for me to win such a race. When I started two years back, it was to get myself back into shape. It all began with road running, then gradully shifted to aquathon and finally to triathlons. After tonight I think I will throw in the odd cycling race to challenge myself further,” Garcia told Gulf News.
Riders from Great Britain also tasted considerable success with Cairns and McCarthy being joined by young triathlete Amber Harding at the top of the podium in the Junior U-18 Female category.
The bulk of the honours on the night were reserved for local riders as they registered outright wins in the Junior U-18 Male, the Disabled Male, Social Emirati Female and Social Emirati Male categories.
Leading the Emirati medals onslaught was the trio of Jassim Ali Hassan, Rashid Al Suwaidan and Ahmad Abdullah Eisa in the Junior U-18 Male category, while Madawi Al Bassam, Eman Al Muhairi and Haya Mohammad Al Shanqiti repeated a second sweep in the Social Emirati Female category.
Ebrahim Mohammad Ali Abdul Rahman finished with a time of 1:42.47 to bag the first place ahead of Rashid Al Ghurair and Eisa Salman Hassan Mohammad Al Sabri in the Social Emirati male category.
“This was a race that was mine and I should have won it easily. Everything went just fine for me as I kept alongside the leader as we approached the final straight. But I responded a little late when he started his sprint,” Al Ghurair admitted.
“But I am happy with my performance and I am confident there will be many more successes in the future,” he added.
