Mark Godfrey claimed a silver medal at the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships in the juvenile (15-16) division in Aruba.

Godfrey, who was in the front pack for most of the race, was beaten to the line by Jeff Major of Bahamas with Jendelo Paula of Curacao coming in third

The silver medal won by Godfrey, 15, is the first time Bermuda has been on the podium in one of the boys categories in this competition.

The road race yesterday was in hot and dry conditions as the wind picked up through the morning.

The juvenile race of 60 kilometres saw an early attack from which the leading trio of Godfrey, Major and Paula broke off the front, steadily increasing their lead over the main field.

In the final sprint, Major took the win.

Godfrey's team-mate, Marquise Cann played the role of 'domestique' during the race, sitting in the chasing peloton of 14 riders in the event that the break did not succeed.

In the bunch sprint for the remaining places he was able to improve on his 19th place in the time trial to finish 12th overall.

Hayley Evans was part of the lead group in her junior girls (15-18) category until the final lap of her 40 kilometre race, finishing fifth ahead of two Arubans.

Race winner Nuhely Emerenciana was also the winner of the junior girls time trial.

This was the third and final year of junior national representation for Evans who heads to university in September.

Bermuda Bicycle Association (BBA) president, Peter Dunne, said the Championships would be a valuable experience for the local riders.

"For Team Bermuda this trip has been highly successful, both with the individual results and the continued exposure to a high caliber of competition," said Dunne.

"The riders have seen that to achieve podium results in this competition the commitment to training needs to be a very high level.

"They are already discussing what they need to do in preparation for next year.

"This is a good sign and, since all of the boys will still be eligible in 2011, they should continue to show even greater results.

"Our team has also strengthened friendships with riders they met last year, better linking them to the Caribbean cycling community.

"They have been great ambassadors for our country at all times and it is a pleasure to see them in this role."

The junior boys (17-18) road race was contested over eight laps of the 10 kilometre course with the lead group slowly being whittled down by the headwind and constant attacks by the strong teams of Curacao and Barbados.

On the second lap, Bermuda's Dominique Mayho crashed in the roundabout but quickly recovered and was able to rejoin the peloton.

With two laps to go and the lead group down to 12 riders, the Island's second rider in the category, Tre-shun Correia, began to cramp and lost contact with the group.

In the sprint finish, Mayho had a strong performance, finishing ahead of Barbados strong man Russell Elcock for fifth.

Hillard Cijntje of Curacao won the championship title followed by Jamol Eastmond of Barbados and Christopher Holder.

In the time trial on Saturday Evans finished fourth, Godfrey was eighth, Marquise Cann was 19th, Dominique Mayho fourth and Tre-shun Correia 86th.