“And the winner is Cleveland Forde” seems to be the recurring theme of the annual Neal and Massy 10km road race.
The ‘Little Kenyan’ continued his dominance of the event yesterday, running away with the men’s title for the fourth consecutive year showing that the change of courses must have been the only thing that changed in his script.
Forde bagged another gold medal by completing the trek which started at Vreed-en-Hoop and ended at AINLIM’s Ruimveldt office in 33 minutes 20.12 seconds, as the race crossed the Demerara Harbour Bridge for the first time this year.
Cleveland Thomas took silver in 33 minutes 48.81 seconds while
Nathaniel Giddings steeped up for the final podium spot in 34.07.64s.
Dennis Horatio finished fourth (34.40.52) while Winston Missinger was fifth (35.34.08).
On the distaff side, US based Euleen Josiah-Tanner showed her class by repeating as champion in her category.
Josiah-Tanner crossed the line in 39 minutes 25.89 seconds, some two minutes ahead of second place finisher Alika Morgan (40.37.75) who was the inaugural race winner.
Andrea Foster was third in 42 minutes 06.76 seconds followed by Carlissa Atkinson (fourth) in 45:18.71 and Jevina Straker (fifth) in 45:06.13.
In the Boys category, Grivon Grant was the top finisher (35:27.19) followed by Ornesto Thomas (35:57.53) and Colvis Saul (36:13.05).
Brothers, Matthew (36:17.06) and Carl Mackenzie (36:42.88) ran in fourth and fifth respectively.
Shontel Hinds placed first in the girls category in a time of 45:14.56 ahead of Mariah Mackenzie 46:19.81 and Yolit Charles 50:26.13.
Keneshew Stephenson 52:14.51 was fourth and Endia Forte was fifth in one hour seven minutes, 40 seconds.
Alisha Fortune maintained her stronghold of the Veteran women’s category as she crossed the finishing line in 52:48.77 followed in second position by Cryleen Phillips in 54:07.12 and Carla Benjamin third in 1:01.49.
Eon Archibald was first in the veteran 40-55 age category in 38:40.77 followed by Lindon Hornson (42:30.51) and Kwame Bright (42:32.05).
The winner of the men’s 55 years and over was Llewellyn Gardner who finished in 41:14.71 followed by Ravi Purohit in 49:16.03 and Maurice Fagundes in 50:36.28.
The event also had a 5km spin off from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to AINLIM which attracted employees of the Neal and Massy as part of their Health and Wellness Programme.
Deo Persaud, Chief Executive Officer of Neal and Massy Guyana expressed the Group’s commitment to sponsoring the race once again next year with a few changes including the name of the race.
He said the Group is going through administrative changes which will be rolled out shortly to coincide with its Anniversary to be celebrated on September 16.
He congratulated the winners and expressed gratitude to all the participants of the day’s activities.
President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson also thanked the athletes for participating in the event and encouraged them to remain committed to the development of athletics in Guyana.
