TOMORROW is `D’ day for local 10K athletes who will be part of the 5th Annual COURTS 10K run which is set to get under way at 06:00hrs from outside the company’s main office on Main Street.According to Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) president Aubrey Hutson, all things are in place for the mega event which will pit together Guyana’s top middle-distance runners in both the male and female categories.
Already speculation is rife about who will come out victorious in the male and female open categories as United States-based Guyanese Euleen Josiah-Tanner has registered for tomorrow’s race with the intention of winning the annual event for a fifth consecutive year.
Tanner, who was not a part of last Sunday’s Massy 10k race which was won by Alika Morgan, will definitely have to be wary of Morgan, who, after a layoff from the sport, trained two weeks for the Massy race and won comfortably (almost 150 metres) ahead of Andrea Foster who returned to Guyana three days prior to the event, after representing Guyana at the recently concluded World Championships in Bejing, China.
It would not be surprising to see both Tanner and Morgan get a `run for their money’ tomorrow.
Tanner, however, has been the most dominant female road race runner of the event, having won all four previous editions, but Morgan was not a part of last year’s event as she was on national duty in Indonesia.
Last Sunday, Morgan’s winning time for the Massy 10k race was 42 minutes .08 seconds, while Josiah-Tanner’s winning time for the COURTS event last year was 38 minutes 30.09 seconds.
After winning last year’s edition of the race for fourth consecutive year, Tanner was branded `the owner of the event’.
In the male open event, all eyes will be on Cleveland `The Little Kenyan’ Forde and Cleveland Thomas as they are the two most consistent middle-distance runners in Guyana at the moment.
Thomas is the defending champion of the event, having won last year’s edition in the absence of Forde who at the time was battling a bout of chikungunya and dengue fever.
Thomas had to settle for a distant second to Forde in last Sunday’s Massy 10K which the latter won in 33 minutes 15 seconds.
Thomas’ time last year was 32 minutes 56.13 seconds, which is faster than the 33.58 he recorded last Sunday in the Massy 10K run which was won by Forde in 33.15.
Tomorrow’s activity will see competition in five categories, namely juniors (16-19), seniors (men 30-34), women (30-39), masters (women 35 and over), masters (men 40-54) and masters )men 56 and over).
All categories will attract cash prizes and trophies.
The route of the race will be: Start in front of COURTS Main Street, proceed North to Seawall Road, east along the Seawall Road, continue east along the Rupert Craig Highway northern carriageway, turn at Church Road into Rupert Craig Highway’s southern carriageway into Kitty Public Road, south on Vlissengen Road, west on Lamaha Street, south on the Eastern carriageway on Main Street, turn around at the Cenotaph and finish on the western carriageway on Main Street in front of COURTS.