Four states share gold medals on opening day of National Games cycling competition

On the first day of road cycling at the 2024 National Games in Guanacaste, four states – Alajuela, Grecia, Perez Zeledon and Palmares – shared the gold medal in the Cirque (a circuit with intermediate objectives) held in Santa Rita, Núñez.

Briana Jiménez of Alajuela won the first gold medal by completing the 15-minute plus one lap race in 19:34. Nicole Lizano took silver, 16 seconds behind, and bronze medalist Dafne Martínez, both Jiménez’s teammates, 39 seconds behind.

Alexa Pérez from Turrialba (1:57) and Isabella Céspedes from Monteverde (2:57) were further behind.

Santiago Herrera from Greece, Francel Martínez from Perez Zeledon and Matias Pacheco from Palmares won gold medals in the standard tests on Saturday in the men’s juniors, women’s juniors and men’s children categories, respectively.

In the men’s children’s category, Matías Pacheco defeated eight riders in a close race to take the gold medal for Palmares. In the same time of 29:02, after 20 minutes and one lap, Isaac Campos from Pérez Zeledón took the silver medal and Emmanuel Alfaro from Greece took the bronze.

Meanwhile, Francell Martínez de Pérez Zeledón won the junior women’s category in 26:31 after 20 minutes plus one lap, with Isela Jimena Alvarado de Limón, the silver medalist, and Fátima Elizondo de Pérez Zeledón, the bronze medalist, both winning with different margins of 1:12.

Santiago Herrera from Greece won the men’s junior category in 27 minutes 36 seconds after running 25 minutes and one lap. In a test with 22 participants, Jorge Julián Solís from Zarcero took the silver medal, 19 seconds behind, and José Murillo from Alajuela took the bronze medal, 29 seconds behind.