CLEVELAND ‘The Little Kenyan’ Forde and Euleen Josiah-Tanner dominated the male and female categories respectively of the 5th Annual COURTS 10K road race yesterday.After winning the Massy 10K run one week earlier Chronicle Sport asked him if he was confident of winning the COURTS event. He had replied, “I take one race at a time anyone can win … you see, when you start a race, you get the feeling of what the outcome might be.”

Yesterday’s result speaks for itself as Forde was hardly bothered throughout the race.
Staying with the leading bunch on the upward journey and for most of the way back to the place of origin (COURTS Main Street), Forde was part of an eight-man pack who had separated from the rest of the field near the Russian Embassy.
He then changed gears at the second water station near the 6km mark at Guyana Defence Force’s Camp Ayanganna and was trailed closely by last year’s winner Cleveland Thomas, Trinidad-based Guyanese Kelvin Johnson and Winston Missigher.
Thomas who won in 32 minutes 56 seconds last year found another gear at Lamaha and Cummings streets and this motivated Forde to respond, leaving Missigher and Johnson lagging behind.
The Forde and Thomas then journeyed together until Forde changed another gear at New Market and Main streets, while Thomas who seemed tired failed to give chase and Forde, who easily won the race in 32 minutes 45 seconds, cruised in to loud applause as he regained the COURTS 10K trophy
Thomas (32m:58s) settled for second while Missigher (33m:01s) placed third. Johnson and Nathaniel Giddings (34m:01s) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Forde did not participate last year due to Chikengunya and Dengue symptoms and was forced to watch his arch rival Thomas take top honours.
On the distaff side, United States-based Josiah-Tanner was unstoppable, winning the event for the fifth consecutive year.
Yesterday, the 40-year-old Tanner returned a winning time of 39 minutes 39 seconds, leading Andrea Foster (42m:17s) and a fading Alika Morgan (44m:38s) into the top three.
Matthew McKenzie (junior boys) and Shantell Hinds (junior girls) were also in the winners’ row.
Apart from the 10K race, there was a 3K walk/jog category and this brought out most of the COURTS employees.
Teams from Crossfit Bel-Air and Genesis Fitness also took part in the incident-free fixture.
The organizers, along with president of the AAG, Aubrey Hutson, deemed the event a success, stating that it was the largest turnout in recent memory.