Holy Saturday Classic Rolls Out for Historic 96th Run

Before most of the country wakes up this Holy Saturday, Belize’s highways will already be buzzing, because the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic is rolling out once again. Now in its ninety-sixth year, the iconic one‑day race starts at Digi Park and stretches riders to their absolute limits as local standouts and international contenders clash wheel‑to‑wheel for bragging rights, national pride, a ten‑thousand‑dollar purse, and a haul of station prizes along the way. It’s a brutal test of endurance, strategy, and heart, and as always, it promises drama from the first pedal stroke to the final sprint. With fans lining the route and eyes from across the region watching, the Classic remains Belize’s biggest and most beloved cycling showdown. We caught up with Leticia Westby, General Secretary of the Cycling Federation of Belize, to talk about the build‑up, the competition, and what fans can expect as the country’s most historic race hits the road once more.

 

Leticia Westby, General Secretary, Cycling Federation of Belize

“The big event that the country of Belize is highly anticipating happens this Saturday. It starts at Digi Park. We expect a very competitive event. Our athletes have been improving in terms of their performance. They have become very competitive in their region. The defending champion Mr. Jim Brown will be coming back to defend his title. As a foreign rider there are requirements in place. The objective is to ensure fair competition to avoid any athletes who are professional to be here. At one point we were trying to reduce it below a continental team. But our riders are not competing with continental team. Beside Jim Brown we have teams from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, some individual riders from U.S. and Canada and the Belize American team Legion of Los Angeles, they will be coming in to participate in that.”

 

Paul Lopez

“And what does the volume of station prizes look like?”

 

Leticia Westby

“We are probably going to have over a hundred. We have been working on putting the prizes together and we are already at a hundred and people are still sending in and we wanted to stop at a certain point, but people kept calling and saying, can you, can you.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.