It was an emphatic finish in the National Park. With a massive crowd cheering on Guyana’s best distance runners, they sprinted through the Park’s twists and turns in hopes of emerging victorious in the second leg of the South American 10K Road Race.
Reckie Williams (in blue) often took the lead ahead of his much more experienced counterparts
The Guyana leg of this race is often associated with piercing sunshine, but weather conditions this time remained favourable throughout the 10K event, with the skies being overcast and sunshine less than threatening. The athletes seemed to thrive in this weather, with the pack of top runners staying banded together for much of the race, which stretched from Carifesta Avenue, with a U-turn at UG, onto the JB Latchmansingh Road, with a right turn into Thomas Lands, and into the National Park.
The Kitty Public Road proved to be the true test for the competitors, as the group slowly disbanded, with the usual suspects looking to forge ahead. At this point Jonathan Fagundes led the race, with Cleveland ‘Little Kenyan’ Forde expectedly foot-to-foot behind; but, in his usual nature, Forde was content to lag behind.
Caption: Cleveland Forde crossing the finish line in yet another 10K win ahead of colleague Winston Missigher
His transformation was, however, evident when the racers took their first turn into the National Park. It was as if the distance stalwart had suddenly become a sprinter, racing past one competitor at a time in order to get ahead. It was here that the gauntlet was thrown down, as Winston Missigher mounted a challenge to his longtime rival. Unlike their last 10K meet on home soil, Missigher was unable to match strides with Forde, and the Little Kenyan took the second leg of the South American 10K in 33.07s, with Missigher close behind in a time of 33.09s. Rounding off the top trio was Cleveland Thomas with 34.18s.
Jonathan Fagundes eventually ended on 34.51s, but the true class act in the race was 19-year-old Rekie Williams, who was initially entered in the junior category but proved himself to be among the top performers with a fifth place run of 35.08s.
The female senior category held similar excitement, with Grenadian Kenisha Pascal taking top honours, but being closely trailed by Guyanese Sheama Tyrell and Kezra Murray who finished in second and third respectively. Aaliyah Moore and Tia Azore finished of the women’s seniors’ top five.
Kenisha Pascal poses with her accolades won in the Senior Women’s category
In the junior category, Daniel Harvey of the Running Brave club strutted to a win ahead of Morvin Hamilton, Devon Giles and Murphy Nash, who finished second, third and fourth respectively.
Over in the female juniors, Leyanna Charles took the top spot, with Lisa Douglas, Sherrilyn Woolford and Tiah Tornhill finishing in the runners-up spots.
The top trio in the men’s division will now set their sights on Panama, where the third leg of the three-part race will conclude. Forde, Missigher and Thomas are currently leading the competition, having finished in exactly that order in the first leg, which was hosted in Suriname. There, Forde won in a time of 33.52s; Missigher was close behind, with a time of 33.53s, and Thomas finished on 33.54s.
Other winners included:
Male 40-49 Masters
1st Francis King Suriname
2nd Adrean Thomas Guyana
3rd Neville Chabrol Guyana
Male 50-59 Masters
1st Curtis Cox Trinidad & Tobago
2nd Gary Hartog Guyana
3rd Ivelaw Archibald Guyana
Male 60+ Masters
1st Llewellyn Gardner Guyana
2nd Gladstone Hopkinson Guyana
3rd Maurice Fagundes Guyana
