North Road clinch opening honours

MUSCAT, NOV 8 - North Road Oman claimed the top position in the opening team time trial event of the OCA Championship 2020-21 at the weekend. Arsen Endurance and Al Ahli Sidab A finished second and third respectively at the season-opening event for Oman Cycling Association (OCA) from Al Amerat to Al Salil and back on Friday. North Road finished on top by clocking 1 hour 6 seconds to complete the 45km team time trial. Arsen Endurance finished second with 1 hour 31 seconds time and Al Ahli Sidab A were third with a timing of 1:02:13. OCA President Saif al Rashdi was the chief guest for the concluding ceremony as he honoured the top three place winners. Saif al Rashdi said he is happy that they were able to stage the competition despite the pandemic situation. “The OCA is happy to kick start the cycling season delayed due to the COVID-19 situation. We have ensured to implement the medical protocol stipulated by the government authorities,” Al Rashdi said. “In fact we have 14 teams this time, one more than last year.” The opening race of the championship was concluded without any incidents. “The race was incident-free and completed smoothly with the help of Royal Oman Police. We hope to continue the good work in the upcoming races with the full cooperation of the participating teams too,” Sultan Hamed al Rawahi, OCA board member, said. NEXT RACE ON NOV 20 The next race, individual time trial (18 km), will be held at Al Batinah Coastal Road on November 20. A total of eight races are scheduled for this season’s championship. Teams will collect points from each of the races. After the first race, North Road Oman have 250 points, while Arsen Endurance have 230 points and Al Ahli Sidab A have 210 points. The championship, which runs for a total of 641 km, consists eight races — six road races, one individual time trial and one team time trial. All the races are one-day events with separate prizes on each day. The general classification leader in Open category will get the Omantel red jersey, general classification leader in Under-23 category will win the Bank Nizwa white jersey and general classification leader in Over 40 category will bag the Bank Sohar green jersey. Prizes will be given in the Open category, under-23, team and 40 plus categories apart from all podium winners on each race days. This year’s event is being competed by Ahli Sidab A and B teams, Al Rustaq, Al Shabab, Sur, Izki, North Road Oman, Gulf Cycles, Arsen Endurance/Diver Store, Nizwa Club, Brothers Team, Capital Team, Ibri Club and Royal Army of Oman.