Add another Independence 10k winner’s trophy to Winston Missigher’s collection. Yesterday, the Running Brave Athletic Club standout posted a wire-to-wire victory to repeat as champion of the Burgette Williams-Forde and friends organized fixture.
Missigher clocked 34 minutes and 32 seconds in perfect conditions for racing. Cleveland Thomas, one of the pre-race favorites who ran in about 150m behind, completed the trek in 34 minutes and 57 seconds. Nathaniel Giddings (35m: 22s) and Jonathan Fagundes (35m: 42s) filled out the top five positions.
Missigher had a good day at the office, but what was more impressive was his modus operandi for the race which started at Everest Ground, proceeded to UG road (via the seawall road) and returned to the GNS Complex for the finish. The national athlete changed gears at the 8km mark from the other podium finishers in the lead bunch and never took his foot off the pedal.
For his efforts, he pocketed the $US200 first prize.
“It was a great win” said Missigher.
I have been training hard and I’m glad that it has been paying off. Meanwhile, other categorical winners included Ashanti Scott
(female open), Llewellyn Gardner (male masters), Cyrleen Phillips (female masters), Murphy Nash (u-16 male) and Shaquka Tyrell (u-16 female).
NOTE: For the 5km race (for athletes 14-16 years) the top three in the male and female categories each received bicycles.
Williams-Forde, chief organizer of the meet which was a collaborative effort of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) and former athletes based in North America, thanked the athletes for making the event a success. Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland who competed in the 5k, congratulated the organizers and also challenged them to make it an annual Independence 10k fixture on the AAG’s Calendar. (Emmerson Campbell)
