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Codie Norales was on the Road and Jules Vasquez has the story:..

Jules Vasquez reporting
68 Starters signed in for the elite race including National Road Champion Byron Pope and Giovanni Choto and defending champion Costa Rica Marcos Salas plus Two time champion Marlon Castillo - current record holder and the last Belizean champion in 2009.

At 9:00 am, the race launched from the Santa Elena Border. The story of the race took shape in the first five miles about five miles into the race, five riders separated themselves Ernest Meighan, David Henderson Jr., Darren Williams, Byron Pope and Giovanni Choto. But heading into Corozal town, five was trimmed down to only two - Byron Pope and Giovanni Choto.

And turning into Corozal, from Paraiso Village, the same two rounded the bend into the northern-most town 25 Seconds later, the chase group of about twenty made the turn and another ten seconds behind we saw the main peloton at the front Giovanni Choto and Byron Pope continued to extend their lead up to forty seconds.

Going through San Joquin the pair gobbled up the early station prizes and rounding the corner at the Libertad junction, no other cyclist was in the background they were followed almost a minute later by the chase Nissan Arana, Jairo Campos, Edward Reyes.

And less than ten seconds behind them, again, the main bunch, at Louisville - the gap was 54 seconds - with Giovanni Choto of Western Spirit, and Byron Pope of Benny's Megabytes leading the way.

Nearing San Pablo Village - the lead duo were caught by three - Marlon Castillo, John de Long and Peter Choto - and while they were on pace.

In the meantime, Leroy Cassasola, Edward Reyes and Nissan Arana broke clear from the chase and attempted to catch up to the lead five. Just outside the Orange Walk district, the chase and the lead merged and the breakaway was suddenly 8 men strong. Those men include, brothers Giovanni and Peter Choto, of Western Spirit, C-Ray's Nissan Arana, Marlon Castillo and Leroy Cassasola of Team Santino's, Edward Reyes of D and D Cycling, Byron Pope of Benny's Megabytes and American John Delong of team Veloshine.

The station prize for Bypass Indian Village was won by Edward Reyes, inside Orange Walk, at the Shell One Stop Gas Station for the second year in a row, Nissan Arana took the thousand dollar station prize

But his success was short-lived because when we next caught up with the race at Carmelita village - Nissan Arana had been dropped, and the lead pack was down to seven.

Some five miles later the lead group of seven was down to 6, but six who were chasing Marlon Castillo who attacked somewhere around mile 41 and was on a solo flight - looking for a deja vu from 2009.

As we approached Crooked Tree - Marlon Castillo was still out front and the chase was in full effect - with some working while Marlon Castillo's team-mate seemed to be disrupting the pace to protect his leader.

In the meantime, Marlon Castillo appeared to be a man on a mission, a solo mission, looking strong, his cadence smooth.

The chase kept up the pursuit… but At Crooked Tree, Marlon Castillo took the Station Prize with a gap of one minute and ten seconds, he got coaching from Santino. But around mile 25 now he was looking laboured - that smooth cadence gone. But the chase was still there.

Approaching the old Northern Highway - Marlon Castillo seemed to almost be inviting them to come for him - as he seemed spent at Sandhill around mile 18, the chasers were in sight, a light rain was falling and Castillo looked back almost as if he asking them to come and save him. And finally the inevitable happened, Marlon was caught by the six chasers - and it's a brand new race.

At the Burrell Boom junction Peter Choto took the station prize of one sheep through Ladyville, the attacks were on, Byron Pope and Giovanni Choto trying to escape but John De Long was not having it - coming out of Ladyville, Giovanni Choto attacked - looking very dangerous

At mile seven, Choto was still out front while the chase seemed disorganized and Heading towards the Haulover Choto seemd to be feeling it, as he gave us a game thumbs up and he has Haulover all to himself - as he rolled across.

It would be another forty seconds before the chase group appeared on the bridge - still not organized. At mile four Byron Pope, Marlon Castillo and Edward Reyes were trying to make it across as they head into a rainy city.

Headed into the city - driving into the rain, Choto was all alone and, he held on, At the finish Giovanni Choto claims his first New Year's Classic with Byron Pope coming in second - 31 seconds later

While Peter Choto came in third - his hands raised because his older brother and team-mate had just won.

Giovanni Choto, Winner, KREM New Year's Classic
"I really feel happy and I know Team Western Spirit is happy right now and I thank God most of all for the strength to get the win."

Jules Vasquez
"Explain what was the strategy out there on the road and how did you execute it? Did the race play out as you thought it would?"

Giovanni Choto
"Yes because we said that we wanted to have two men at every break that went and that was how we had it and we won. That was what we were asking for."

Jules Vasquez
"What was the advantage you had over the other riders in the lead pack?"

Giovanni Choto
"Everybody remain strong and I just took the advantage when me and Pope was on the run and they caught up with us I went again and then the boys stay at the back, I decide not to gamble with it, I was looking forward to the winning because I really wanted a win."

Byron Pope, 2nd Place - KREM New Year's Cycling Classic
"The Benny's Megabytes camp, our main goal is the KREM Classic on the Cross Country, but we wanted to defend this title to the fullest because last year we won this race and so we know what we can prepare on and we could have done it today again but there was just a little mistake on the end that cause us to get 2nd Place. I am not happy with the second but; I wanted a win because we come out for a win. We don't come out for second."

Jules Vasquez
"What specifically was the mistake?"

Byron Pope
"Giovanni and I went and I attack then I notice Giovanni was the strongest and so he and I got a gap and try to separate from the rest but the American guy just brought us back together. When that happen Giovanni just kept continue peddling, so I said that I am going to leave him for a little while to attack and I am going to bridge him again because I have the legs to bridge him but the Belizeans and the American just kept coming and they didn't want to rotate to get Giovanni intact because I know once I could have brought them to the finish I could have beaten all of them."

Jules Vasquez
"We know that last year you were getting over the loss of your father and now yesterday you lose your brother. How is it riding out there with all this in your head?"

Byron Pope
"Well i juts came out with the mentality that my dad and my little brother would have wanted me ride this race and both of them would have been out here supporting me to the fullest."

Peter Choto, Second, KREM New Year's Classic
"It was hard but it just came our way."

Jules Vasquez
"Now, you saw your brother break ahead and go for first. Were you tempted to go with him or what was your thinking then?"

Peter Choto
"We work as a team and if he is at the front it is like I am at the front. If he got catch then it would have been my turn to respond."

For the women's race, Kaya Cattouse won in a dramatic chest-thumping win - an upset of the four time champ Shalini Zabaneh.

Geovanni Brackett, Plus TV "You are the first Belizean that has beaten Shalini. How does it feel and what's the secret?"

Kaya Cattouse, First Place, KREM New Year's Classic
"I just got back mu bike in September. It's been a hard couple months of training. Before I answer I want to give a bog thank you to my team mate Keira Eiley. She paste for me and gave me a good lead out and if it wasn't for her that gave me that good lead out I wouldn't have been able to knock off Shalini on the sprint. But to answer your question it feels very good to dethrone the queen."

Shalini Zabaneh, Second Place
"When you lose you have to go back to the drawing board and see what the problem was and you just have to come back and do your best."

Geovanni Brackett, Plus TV
"Where did you think you made your mistake? the slip-up that made you lost this race."

Shalini Zabaneh
"Well it was only on the sprint. That's where my problem is. I have to work on that."

Kaya Cattouse
"To be honest all our trainings are harder than this race because sometime in this race we were going like 12 miles per hour; nobody wants to paste; nobody wants to work. One spell Shalini started to attack, but as she move I move right near her wheel, she is not supposed to go and leave me. Anybody else could have gone but she couldn't go because everybody was watching her and she was watching everybody."

Shalini Zabaneh
"This is how the women ride. They just sit on and then sprint. They don't ride a steady pace. That's where the problem is, they just slow down then speed up and sprint."

Geovanni Brackett, Plus TV
"From this now do you look forward to another race against Shalini?"

Kaya Cattouse
"February, March and all the rest of months I am back in cycling now. I was off my bike for two years but I am back in it now."

Shalini Zabaneh
"This is the first race of the season, there many more."

For clarity, according to our records, Shalini Zabaneh won the race three times. Both races were well off the record: the men about fourteen minutes off, and the women about 22 minutes off.