Cleveland ‘Little Kenyan’ Forde has once again demonstrated his dominance in the longer formant of road racing as he raced his way to his 6th consecutive title in the seventh annual Massy 10K road race title on Sunday.
For the first time in the history of the event, the race began on the East Bank of Demerara, starting in front of the Diamond branch of Republic Bank where runners would only run in a northern direction to cross the finish line situated in front of the Massy Headquarters, Ruimveldt.
Forde crossed the finish line in an impressive 33 minutes 11 seconds piping second paced, Winston Missigher who finished in a time of 33 minutes 31 seconds and Police Track Club’s Nathaniel Giddings (33:33).
Cleveland Thomas clocked in 34:01 while Quacy Morgan ran 35:16 to finish 4th and 5th respectively.
Cleveland Forde raced to the finish line in 33:11Winston Missigher finished second with a time of 33:31
Forde, Missigher and Giddings were all bundled coming down to the last 3K but it was in the final stretch Forde accelerated from the pack.
Forde who had earlier set his sights on running around the 32 minute mark pointed out that it was a different environment than running from Vreed-en-Hoop and indicated that the breeze was a bit strong.
It was due to this that he was unable to run as expected but still managed to win the event he loves.
Forde acknowledged the efforts of Missigher, stating that the 28 year-old ran better than expected and posed a threat.
On the other hand, Missigher was satisfied with his performance noting that the sun was affecting him to an extent due to the late start, throwing his preparations off track.
Both runners have highlighted that this event was used as a warm up for the Venture 5K race to be hosted in Trinidad and Tobago later this month.
In the senior female division, Ashanti Scott copped first place in a time of 42:21 followed by Alicia Jack (46:52), third placed, Shion Boyer (49:32) and Nikita Wilson (54:25).
Odwin Tudor was the leader in the junior male category, finishing in 34:21. Anferne Headecker came in second, one minute later while Rickey Williams rounded off the podium in 35:47.
The junior female category was won by Claudrice McKay (41:32) while Maria Urquart completed the task in 47:52 followed by Leanna Charles (50:11).
Michael Davidson dominated the Masters Male division (40-54 years), finishing 39:45 while Gary Hartag finished in 41:26. Shawn Agard was third placed in this event at a time of 43:13.
In the senior male race (55 years and over), Ian Archibold completed the race in 41:22 closely trailed by Wendlyn Gardner (42:30) as Kenneth Prescott managed a time of 51:58.
In the 35-year and over female category, Cyleen Phillips was the top runner, registering a completed race at 53:44. Carla Benjamin ran 54:34 in second while 59:09 brought Carla Adams to third place.
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson indicated that the event was a total success and was pleased to see it was an incident free race.
In addition to the road race prizes, participants also got the chance to win in a raffle style drawing, one Dell laptop, a bag pack of school supplies and a 10 inch tablet.
