Tonya Nero successfully defended her Caricom 10K women’s title, yesterday, while her Trinidad and Tobago teammate, Denzil Ramirez dethroned Guyana’s Cleveland Forde to cop the men’s title.
The race took place at Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, taking the runners for one lap around the Savannah, exiting at Agriculture roundabout, over Flagstaff Hill to Long Circular Road to Courts, left to Roxy roundabout, along Tragarete Road to Cipriani Boulevard before finishing in front of Queen’s Royal College.
Nero dominated the women’s race, completing the ten-kilometre event in 37 minutes, 22 seconds, more than four minutes better than second placed Alika Morgan of Guyana, who crossed the finish line in 41:46.
Morgan was followed home by Grenada’s Kernisha Pascal (43:06) and Linda McDowell (43:44) from St Vincent and the Grenadines, who were third and fourth, respectively.
Ramirez led throughout the race to finish in 32:09, ahead of second-placed Forde (32:36), third-place Richard Jones (33:02), fourth-placed Curtis Cox (33:27), and fifth-placed Kelvin Johnson (33:55).
Ramirez, was at the head of the pack from the start, with Forde, Jones and Cox keeping him company around the Savannah until he pulled away at Long Circular Road, leaving Forde, Jones and Cox to battle for the next three spots.
Although Cox was leading heading into the bend at Cipriani Boulevard, he could not hold off Forde and Jones as they headed back to the Savannah for the finish. Nero said she was pleased with her run, yesterday, noting that the overcast conditions worked out in her favour.
“The weather was cool and nice with a little drizzle. I think it was a good race for me and I am just happy to represent my country,” she said after the race.
“It feels good to know I could still be up there and I could still do well for my country. I will train very hard for next year.
“I am just doing local races so far for the year and I have no plans to do any international races right now, but I am hoping to do something international.”
About her time, Nero said: “I was pleased with it. I think I am improving and I am trying to take my training piece by piece to make sure that I get up there.”
Her ultimate goal, she said, is to run a good marathon between now and next year.
“I want to run a two hours and 35 minutes. That is my goal since the start of the year and all my races will help towards achieving that.
“I am focusing on getting my training back where it should be so I am happy with my performance,” Nero added.