Clean sweep for Guyanese trio at South American 10k
– Forde takes gold
Cleveland Forde, Cleveland Thomas, and Winston Missigher flew the Golden Arrowhead high in Suriname on Saturday as they took all three podium spots at the first leg of the South American 10k Road Race.
Clean sweep! Guyana’s Cleveland Thomas, Cleveland Forde and Winston Missigher
The Guyanese were dominant as they set the pace from the beginning of the race; the “Little Kenyan” Cleveland Forde, who is a seasoned campaigner in the annual event, led from the front and hardly broke a sweat, finishing up with the winning time of 34 minutes 5.08 seconds while his namesake, Cleveland Thomas came in just behind with a time of 34 minutes 9 seconds.
The top two finishers’ countryman and longtime rival Winston Missigher who is just off an injury, came in third in a time of 34 minutes 21.3 seconds to make it a clean sweep for the Land of Many Waters.
Guyana’s other male athlete in the race, 17-year-old Rickie Williams also had a good showing crossing the finish line in eight place with a time of 38 minutes 2.06 seconds. His eight-place finish in the overall event was good enough to land him second prize in the junior category.
Coming in fourth, fifth and sixth were Grenadian Reon Radix, and Surinamese Ronaldino Pinas and Carlos Feliksdal. Radix’s time was 34 minutes 34.09 seconds while Pinas and Feliksdal ran times of 34 minutes 37.02 seconds and 35 minutes 5.09 seconds respectively.
Also taking part in the first leg was junior female athlete Lyanna Charles, who copped second in the junior female category. However, she finished 35th overall with a time of 52 minutes four seconds.
The lone female senior Guyanese athlete, Ashanti Scott narrowly missed out on a podium spot finishing fourth for the women in a reasonable time of 47 minutes 22.02 seconds.
Netherland’s Lysanne Wilkens was first for the females crossing the finish line in 39 minutes 1.19 seconds while Kenisha Pascal of Grenada was second with a time of 40 minutes 40.08 seconds.
Surinamese Carolien Marlet beat Scott to the bronze, finishing up at 45 minutes 34.08 seconds.
The second leg of the South American 10k Classic will be contested in Guyana on November 5 and the Guyanese will be looking to maintain their form as they seek to take top honours on home soil.
