Matt Boys and Gabby Arnold clinched the top positions at the Bermuda Bicycle Association National Criterium Championships on Sunday.

Boys, who became a new father three months ago, completed 33 laps in 42min 54sec. His Winner’s Edge team-mate Alexander Miller was second with 32 laps in 43:08 while Che'quan Richardson (44:01) was third.

“Overall, I was happy and it was good to see where my fitness is at,” Boys said.

“Having a baby, you have some sleepless nights and you never know how you’re going to go, but I was happy with how it all went.

“I just had a baby 12 weeks ago and I was a little uncertain about this race. My wife’s good, she still lets me train and get out there.

“I was super pleased that Xander Miller was able to come out here and race. We don’t normally get to race in the city, so it was fun to get around here.

“Xander was awesome as he’s been away but it’s good to have him back full-time. You never know with him and he came through the first couple of corners quite quickly and he’s strong enough to push through. I was lucky enough just to have the legs to make him sweat a bit.”

Miller was content to settle for the runner-up spot on his return to racing on the island.

“I am pleased to finish second to Matt Boys,” the 22-year-old said.

“I did my best to stay with him as long as I could. At the 25-minute mark, he left me and went solo, so I just did my best to hang on for second position.

“This is the first race I've done in a while so I’m getting back into the swing of things. It was a great course and we haven’t done too many races in Hamilton this year.

“I really enjoy criterium races and when I looked at the course, I thought it would be a good Sunday out.”

Racing in Hamilton for the first time in years, Arnold fought off strong competition from new mother Panzy Olander. The Indianapolis-based cyclist’s 19 laps came in 29:35 with Olander just touched off in 29:37.

“I’m super happy with the outcome of the race,” Arnold said. “I didn’t have much of a strategy going into this race.

“Right now I'm focusing on gravel racing, which are much longer and harder races. The criterium is quite the opposite, it’s more short and punchy efforts.

“It’s always a pleasure to come home and race. I got back on Friday and I’ll be here for a week and a half before I leave with Team Bermuda for the Caribbean Cycling Championships in Belize.”

Olander, who welcomed her first child five months ago, is working on regaining her fitness.

“It was an awesome race,” she said.

“I felt pretty fit and I had my old racing self in my head, but I didn’t have the type of power I used to have. I wanted to pace myself, especially in the first half and not blow up.

“The last two laps, definitely the pace picked up and that’s when I started feeling the fatigue. I’m glad it happened at the end and not at the beginning of the race.

“I feel like I marked Gabby pretty well. I figured out that the hill on Reid Street was going to be where everyone made their attacks, so I stayed vigilant because I could hear people change gears and I think I did OK on that part.

“I kept telling myself ‘don’t put in too many attacks’ because I don’t have that same power as I used to.

“My fatigue kicked right in during that last lap, so I held on for dear life at the end. There was no sprint left in my legs.”

In the junior men’s division, Jackson Langley went out fast to complete 24 laps in 32:41. Dylan Eiselt (33:27) tried his best to stick with the winner while Keon Stevens finished 23 laps in 33:40.

Langley was delighted to secure his third national junior title of the season, having clinched the time-trial and road race.

“I’m trying to have a really effective off-season and the best move for me was to ride it solo,” the 17-year-old said.

“This course is pretty technical and there’s some surfaces that are not optimal, so I didn't want to come off.

I took out super hard, basically straight from the gun and didn’t really look back. For the first ten minutes I was worried about who was behind me. After that, I put my head down and went for it.”

Eiselt bemoaned a poor start for not affording him a chance to keep up with Langley.

“I’m happy to get second, which I was expecting because of how strong Jackson is,” the 15-year-old said.

“It was pretty much a time-trial for both of us. In my start I wasn't able to go for the first 15 to 20 metres and that’s when Jackson attacked.

“I wasn't able to get on his wheel and go with him. As soon as I got it in place, I put the power down, dropped and tried to catch Jackson.

“At the start, you have to really go out fast and that’s what didn't happen. Jackson realised I was catching him, but he kept going.”

Naomi MacGuinness won the junior women's race with 19 laps in 29:42. Sofia Leclerc was close behind in 30:07 and Zara Bule’s 17 laps came in 29:37.

Niklas Bock secured victory in the boys under-12 category by executing 11 laps in 20:27. Lukas Eiselt, with 10 laps in 19:40, took second and Feargal Murphy (20:30) was third.

Iris Duda’s strong display, which saw her achieve 11 laps in 19:16, won her the girls under-12 age group. Izzy Stevens (20:08) and Bethany Davidge (20:51) completed nine laps each.