– Thomas, Missigher round off clean sweep for Guyana

By Rawle Toney
CLEVELAND Forde, one of the Caribbean’s leading distance athletes, reigned supreme at yesterday’s South American 10km, leading a clean sweep for Guyana.
Forde clocked 33 minutes, 42 seconds (33:42.0) to finish ahead of countrymen, Cleveland Thomas (33:51.0) and Winston Missigher (34:05.0), who finished second and third, respectively.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Curtis Cox settled for fourth after crossing the line with a time of 34:18.0, while St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Junior Ashton (35:53.0) wrapped up the top five finishers, finishing fifth.

Linda McDowall from St Vincent and the Grenadines was the first female to cross the line, running 39:50.0 to finish ahead of Grenada’s Kenisha Pascal (40:44.0) and Guyana’s Maria Urquhart (44:20.0).

Meanwhile, Forde, when the race started in front of the GTT Earth Station, was never in the lead, but ensured that he remained in contention to utilise his trade mark finish.

Missigher and Thomas, along with Cox and Ashton, carried the race for the most part, until the leading pack reached the Camp Ayanganna, Thomas Lands, entrance where Forde used his trademark sprint to the finish.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport after winning another leg, having done the same in Suriname last weekend, Forde said that prior to the start of the race, along with Missigher and Thomas, they decided to work together.

“Actually, the two of them (Missigher and Thomas) did the work, I didn’t had to. We thought we would’ve moved away from Cox because we know he has a good 2K or so, but then, coming down to the end, we had to change that strategy,” said Forde.

Last Sunday, in Paramaribo, Suriname, Forde ran 34:5.08 which was much slower than yesterday’s time. However, Forde said “we know these times are ridiculously slow, but we weren’t looking at the time, we were looking at the position. I know in these condition, we just wanted to do something decent. You know, in these conditions, we just have to ensure we have a good finish.”

Speaking at the presentation of prizes at the National Park, Dr George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion who also holds the responsibility for sports, said that he was disappointed at the turn-out of athletes, but lauded the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) for pulling off the event.

Norton, who also severed as a Vice President of AAG, believes that next year, with better planning, and help from his Ministry, the Guyana leg of the South American 10km race will be the best.