Five races. Five wins.
Many of them not even close.
Management studies student Russell Elcock continues to be all business on the road.
The 20-year-old former Queen’s College student was head of the class again yesterday, as he dominated the Barbados Cycling Union’s ten-lap road criterium on the Spring Garden Highway to win his fifth consecutive race for the 2014 season.
It’s clear that while big cat Darren Matthews is away, Elcock will continue to play.
Not even a slight leg cramp on the final lap could prevent the smiling Elcock from raising his hands in triumph as his dream year continued with another impressive road performance.
Elcock’s one hour and 53-minute exhibition of patience and power left Jesse Kelly and Kristin Vanterpool in his wake, more than three minutes behind at the end.
By the time they crossed the line in second and third, respectively, Elcock was having a sno-cone and doing interviews with the media.
His confidence was sky-high again yesterday.
“It’s always good to continue the streak. The plan from the get-go was to attack. I wanted to ride my own race. I attacked them on the hill when I saw Jesse [Kelly] was fading,” Elcock said between breaths at the finish line.
“I didn’t want to wait around, because the competition overseas is much higher than this, and and I wanted to maintain my speed as I continue to prepare for riding away from Barbados. No lagging around in this,” he said.
Elcock’s next overseas assignments are in Guyana and Anguilla next month, but his main sights are on the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in July, which will be his largest international event.
“I need to work a little more on my speed. I’m winning but I know where I have to keep working. I haven’t really done enough speed work for the year.”
The endurance rider said he was attempting to average around 25 miles per hour on the road, since Barbadian surfaces are much slower than other roads in the region.
According to him, everything is going to plan so far this year.
Elcock, a student at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus, was content to stay with Kelly and Vanterpool for the first half of the race, averaging around 11 minutes per lap. But when he made his move, there was no turning back, as he averaged ten and a half minutes for the eighth and ninth laps, before slowing down in the final 500 metres due to the cramp.
And Elcock did have some company yesterday.
It came from Masters competitor Gregory Austin, who also won his fifth in a row in the 39-45 age group, finishing ahead of Sedwin Jones and St Vincent’s Peter Durant.
After crossing the line, the Barbados triathlete then started a jog down the highway, before heading for a swim at the nearby Brandons beach, taking the opportunity to continue his triathlon training regimen.
In the junior category, Jacob Kelly was first home, ahead of Vernon James and Shamar Rawlins.
