LOCAL and regional running sensation Cleveland Forde will miss today’s 5K Granny Lucess marathon in Trinidad and Tobago. This disclosure was made by Forde while speaking to Chronicle Sport.

He said that he has been forced to pull out of the competition because of a lingering injury which he said continues to bother him severely.
Forde who is the defending champion for the Trinidad race said that after sustaining an injury last year he decided to give last Sunday’s race a try to see how his body would have responded, noting that he had wanted to assess his ability and level of fitness.
“After running the recent Independence marathon I recognised that I am not fit and ready for any other competition right now as it was a gruelling race owing to the seriousness of the injury,” he said. He noted that he had all intentions of competing but will have to pull out because he is not fit and competing may further affect the injury.”
The long distance champion said that he however has his eyes set on competing in the CARICOM Marathon and will be doing everything within his power to compete at that race. “The CARICOM road race is scheduled for some time around the July 6 and ‘I am working very hard to compete in that race as I am determined to defend my title,” he said.
Forde added that he has his eyes set on a number of other competitions later this year where he intends to win. He said that these competitions, if executed according to plan, will see him achieve his set objectives of executing a successful year.
Among those races are the COURTS, Neal and Massy, Venture 5K and the Joint Services.
“For now I am doing what is expected of me and that is to rest until I am fully fit to return to both competing and training,” he concluded. (Andre Nelson)