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By James Whittaker

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Wayne Scott claimed his second Bermuda Day cycling title in a thrilling sprint finish and then dedicated the victory to his old friend Sinclair Packwood.

The race has an extra significance for Scott who went to elementary school with Packwood - the cyclist for whom the race is named.

Scott, a UBP election candidate last year, has a phenomenal record in this event, making it to the podium in each of the five times he has raced it.

And he said it was extra special for him to be able to honour his friend, who died in 1999 after a long battle with illness and was instrumental in having the cycling race recognized as an official part of May 24.

Packwood was also the first rider to win the race back-to-back taking the title in 1992 and 1993.

"It's a great race and I'm glad to be able to do this in memory of Sinclair who was a very good friend of mine.

"I've known him since elementary school and it was good to win this in his honour."

Scott held off a strong challenge from Garth Thomson to win by a wheel's length in a thrilling sprint finish down Cedar Avenue.

"My best chance to win was always going to be in a sprint finish. There was still a big group coming into town so at that point the plan was to get towards the front and stay there.

"We had a pretty good race as a team (Winner's Edge). Kent (Richardson) and Greg (Hopkins) pushed us up the hills and I sat back and drafted off them a little bit.

"I kept saying get me to KFC in the lead group and then we'll see what happens."

Thomson was always likely to be the biggest threat.

He's Bermuda's strongest rider and he and Scott have had some epic tussles in the past.

"He's very strong but, depending on the conditions, in a straight-up sprint I tend to get the better of him. If it's a hill or anything like that, he usually get's the better of me."

Thomson admits he's more of a 50-mile rider than a 13-mile rider.

But despite the slightly funky race distance, Scott believes it is a tough test.

"The first year I did this, I thought '13miles? That's not even getting warmed up', but it was one of the hardest races I'd ever done, and I've done some 125 mile road races.

"Plus it's Bermuda Day, you've got to love it. Everybody's out, it's beautiful."

Women's winner

Scott's team-mate Karen Bordage came down Cedar Avenue just off the lead group to take the women's title.

Bordage, who was second in the half marathon derby in '05 and skipped last year to concentrate on Ironman training, was kept out of the running race with a foot injury she picked up at the Ironman Worlds in Hawaii. But she said that was not going to stop her being a part of May 24 and she raced on the bike, for the first time, instead.

"It was really fun. There was so much nervous energy at the start, everybody just feeds off each other.

"It was really exciting to be involved with."[[In-content Ad]]

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