MY PAPER MONDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2009 MY SPORT A11

Racing to a 1st:
S’pore’s mass
cycling event
Over 5,000 from as far as Denmark
and the US enter OCBC Cycle Singapore
CHEN JINGTING OCBC Bank as the title sponsor.
The top winner in the pre-
mier category – the Elite Criteri-
um – is Australia’s David Pell,

C YCLE fever was in the air

– more than 5,000 cyclists
were flagged off yesterday
at the F1 Pit Building near the
Singapore Flyer for Singapore’s
who won US$12,500 (S$19,000)
in cash. The category was open
to 65 invited professionals such
as Englishman Malcolm Elliott
SPEEDSTERS: Professionals and amateurs at the event, which took place on public roads. (PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN)

first mass-participation cycling
event on public roads.
The OCBC Cycle Singapore
2009 drew participants from as
far away as Denmark and the
United States. It was organised
by event-management firm
Spectrum Worldwide, with
and American Ken Hanson.
The best performing Asian
elite rider is Malaysian Anuar
Manan. He won US$3,000.
A few roads were closed for
the race, including a 10km
stretch of the East Coast Park-
way. Accounting-firm consult-
ant Murniyati Nordin, 25, said:
“It feels good to speed on the
roads.”
Another rider, IT analyst
Alvin Sng, 27, felt that adequate
safety measures had been taken
for the event, which was divided
into seven categories for profes-
sionals and amateurs.
Still, some felt that there was
room for improvement. Air- HELPDESK
craft-technician trainee Timo-
Cyclists:  
thy Tan, 20, said more signs
zì xíng chē qí shì
could be placed along the route
to better guide cyclists.
Public roads:

gōng yòng dào lù
jtchen@sph.com.sg

Son of Yankees
vice-president
linked to steroids
NEW YORK: In another shock steroid distraction for
an already-reeling New York Yankees squad, the son
of team vice-president Felipe Lopez Jr was arrested
in 2002 for having steroids, the New York Post
reported last Saturday.
The news comes four days after Yankees third
baseman Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid player in
Major League Baseball, opened the team’s pre-season
training camp by answering questions about his
doping from 2001 through 2003.
On top of that comes the report that Felipe Lopez
III served 19 months of probation after pleading
guilty to reduced charges in 2003 following his arrest
for trafficking in a banned date-rape drug used by
athletes for muscle recovery, and for possession of
anabolic steroids.
Lopez Jr is the son-in-law of Yankees principal
owner George Steinbrenner.
Lopez III, 30, had worked out at the Yankees’
training facilities in Tampa, Florida, but was asked to
stay away after the Post revealed the drug links.
He was arrested at his Tampa home in 2002 as
part of a US Drug Enforcement Administration
operation for trafficking in GBL – a chemical related
to the date-rape drug GHB, the Post reported.
Also in that raid, police found vials of anabolic
steroids, a shotgun and papers referring to chemicals
used to make the drug Ecstasy, according to the paper.
The Post had earlier reported that Lopez III was
hired as a strength trainer for the Yankees’ training
facility in Tampa that is overseen by his father, but
he, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and a
Steinbrenner spokesman denied he was ever going to
be hired by the club.
– AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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