… St Vincent’s McDowall take women’s title

By Tamica Garnett

GUYANA’S Cleveland Forde championed his fifth overall, and third consecutive, CARICOM 10K men’s open win early yesterday morning, finishing at the National Park in a time of 32.39s, ahead of Trinidad’s Curtis Cox, who clocked 32.56s, while St Vincent’s Linda McDowall took the women’s win in a time of 37.57s.In the women’s 10k event, Guyana’s Euleen Josiah-Tanner clocked 39:46.00s for second place, while Guyana’s Andrea Foster won took third in a time of 40:37.00s.
It was a hard-fought race for Forde this year around, as long-time rival, Cox, kept him on his toes, and many were also keeping an eye on eventual third-place finisher Winston Missigher, to see if he could pull off another upset over Forde.
Missigher had earlier last May taken a come-from-behind victory over Forde in the Golden Jubilee 10km Road Race.
But Missigher proved less of a threat, and it was Cox who turned out to be the one to watch. Earlier on a group comprising Forde, Missigher, Nathaniel Giddings, and Cleveland Thomas, commanded the start of the race,holding the pace approximately up to half way of the race. It was then that things got interesting as Cox made his way to the fore and Giddings began to fall back.
Soon it was just Cox, Forde and Missigher dominating, before it became an eventual fight between just Forde and Cox. Forde then in his usual style sprinted home for the win.
After his win, Forde commented that he had to run a very tactical race to win, and he had to carefully plot his every move as the race progressed.
“I came out to compete, I didn’t know how it would be, I said when I start the race then I would decide if I would go or stay, or whatever the case may be. We got good weather, but the wet road was another factor because you couldn’t push your pace you were sliding, so I just bide my time a little, see how the pace was going.” Forde said
“I decided to move earlier, but the guys just kept coming, so I adjusted my pace again but I keep seeing the Trinidadian step up the pace… I knew that I had to get close, I said I’ve got to get up there, and I was saying to Missigher to move up, but he was a bit slow on that, so then I decided I’ve got to move now so I went ahead, and continued.”
Forde’s time was an improvement from the 33:11.00s that he had taken his win with last year, when the event was held in Barbados. It was also up from the 33:24.00s that he clocked back in May when he bowed out to Missigher in the Golden Jubilee 10km Road Race.
However, the time was still a far cry from the 31-year-old’s 30:38.00s personal best in the event, which he had registered since 2011, at the South American 10K Road Race in Panama.
This year’s event also featured a 5K road race, and a 1500m race for the younger age groups. Joanna Archer (21:32s), Tabitha Bowman (23:46s) and Kisana Glen (25:09s) were first to third, respectively, on the girls’ side of the 5k, while Ricky Williams took an undeniable win in the boys 5K, where he was followed by Tyrese Yensen and Joel williams, respectively.
The athletes were presented with their prizes following completion of the event at a presentation ceremony, which was attended by Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, CARICOM Secretary- General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, and Guyana’s Minister of Sport, Nicollette Henry.