Winston Missingher looks over his shoulders as Cleveland Forde is about to make his move to sprint to the finish along Main Street
AAG/Courts 6th Annual 10K
By Romario Samaroo
Cleveland Forde’s dominance over 10 kilometers continued on Sunday when he fought off enthusiastic competition to lift his fifth Courts 10K title. Cleveland Forde crossed the finish line in a time of 32 minutes 40 seconds (32m40s) well ahead of second place Winston Missingher, in a time of 33m15s, who ran a good race but lost to the experienced defending champion.
The sixth year of the event saw the largest turn out of athletes from a wide cross section of society. This year, the much looked forward to event has attracted Amateur Boxer, Keeve Allicock, Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Group Three racer Danny Persaud, Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Sherod Duncan, staff of Courts and Fitness Express and a large field of fitness pundits.
After the more than 100 athletes were sent on their way in the cool of the morning, they immediately separated into groups and the usual contenders bunching up at the top to establish an early lead while completing the first kilometer along Main Street.
Entering the second kilometer, along the seawall road, 2014 Courts’ 10K winner, Cleveland Thomas took to the front of the pack closely followed by Police Sports Club runner, Nathaniel ‘Brother’ Giddings. However, as the 3km sign was approaching, Giddings assumed the head position with approximately 9m40s on the clock.
Winston Missingher tried desperately to break away from the quartet but was not allowed to as the fast paced race was approaching the 4 km mark along the Rupert Craig Highway where the athletes were facing the rising sun.
As the race approached the half-way point, the sheep were separated from the wolves as Thomas and Giddings fought back and forth for the lead with Forde and Missingher in close proximity as the top four opened the gap from the rest of runners.
When the race turned back, 100 yards before the Conversation Tree junction, the time on the clock was 16m35sec.
At the 6km mark it was Forde and Missingher who took the lead after Thomas and Giddings began to show signs of tiredness running south on Vlissengen Road.
Into the 8km point, Giddings and Thomas both seemed to have lost the momentum to keep up with the two premier distance runners and the race went down to Missingher and Forde.
Leading up to the 9km mark and to an extension, the 10th, Missingher looked to accelerate on Lamaha Street, turning onto Main Street with Forde cruising. Missingher pushed with everything in the tank but looking over his shoulder, the pressure was evident on his face as Forde was right on his heels.
However, Missingher was forced to ease off the acceleration as he passed the Golden Coast Restaurant, allowing a smiling Forde to break away, take over and extend the lead straight to the finish line where a large crowd had gathered including Managing Director of Courts Clyde de Haas.
In the end, after Forde was comfortably home he greeted Missingher who came in second to loud applause and chants of “good race” coming from the gathering. Not to take anything away from Thomas (33m26s) who came in third and Giddings (33m46s) who finished fourth as was expected. Larry Nicholas rounded off the top five in the Senior Male Category with a time of 34 minutes; 30 seconds.
In the Senior Female Category Euleene Josiah-Tanner easily won in a time of 40m12s and was followed by Claudrice Mc Koy (41m43), Ashanti Scott (41m56), Alicia Jack (45m36s) and Shion Boyer (45m50).
The Junior Male Category was very exciting and competitive but it was Odwin Tudor in a time of 34 minutes and 16 seconds that piped the bunch of next generation runners. Delroy Leitch was second (34m39s), Rickey Williams from Region One copped third spot (31m51s) while Anfernee Neadecker (36m43s) and Keevin Allicock (38m17s) completed the top five.
The Male Masters 40 to 54 years old saw Guillermo George of Suriname (3m52s) finishing first while Shawn Agard (41m37s) and Ian Archibald (42m01s) completed the top three.
In the 55 years and older Category Llewellyn Gardner was first (41m48s) while Errol Warde (44m01s) and Kenneth Prescott (52m31s) were second and third respectively.
The Masters Women’s Category was won by Cyrleen Phillips in a time of 49 minutes and 52 seconds followed by Carla Benjamin (51m49s) with Noshavyah King who is the wife of former West Indies fast bowler Reon King finishing third in a time of 55 minutes and 50 seconds.
According to Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, the event showed the urgency for Guyana to produce quality runners and noted that it is a good sign for us to grow from strength to strength, adding that he is pleased to have an incident free event. The AAG boss also thanked furniture and appliances giant, Courts for their continued support.
At the completion of the race a jubilant Forde said “the race was a fast one and he liked the challenge that Missingher has produced.” ‘Little Kenyan’ as Forde is fondly called who was the crowd favourite cited the hard working Missingher as a very good runner.
Missingher on the other hand said “I gave it 100 percent, the race was a fast one but I was forced to press on the accelerator from as far back as Conversation Tree but he (Forde) is more experienced and that’s is what he beat me with.”
The second placed finisher added that it was Forde’s exposure and experience that played the separating role but when it came down to speed and stamina, the two were equal.
In addition to the 10km race, fitness enthusiasts completed 5km walk/jog and a 3km walk.
