Marlon Nicholson along with CARIFTA Games medalists, Attoya Harvey and Javon Roberts ran away with the first place trophies when the Ex Athletes and Friends Inc. staged their annual Independence meet on Sunday.
Nicholson was victorious in the men’s10k road race while Harvey took the spoils on the distaff side. Roberts, this year’s CARIFTA Games silver medalist in the U-17 1500m emerged winner in the junior 5k event.
Nicholson bested a quality field to win the marquee race which attracted the cream of Guyana’s road runners.
Starting and ending at the Eve Leary ground with the University of Guyana road being the turn back point, Nicholson clocked a respectable 34m:30.79s to win the event despite the inclement weather.
He led breakaway mates, Winston Missigher (34m:50.30s) and Odwin Tudor (35m:01.70s) onto the podium..
Seasoned campaigner, Cleveland Thomas (35m:21.23s) placed fourth, while Ronell Newton (35m:33.53s) finished fifth in that order.
Harvey a gold, silver and bronze medalist at this year’s CARIFTA Games which was staged in Jamaica, brought her talents back to the 592 and added more hardware to her collection.
The 16-year-old Running Brave Athletic Club standout, finished the 10k race ahead of every other female starter, clocking 42:29.20 to earn the winner’s trophy.
Abidemi Charles was the next best finisher overall, with a time of 44:36.39, while her Police Progressive Youth Club mate Jelesa Wright, was third overall, crossing the line in 47:09.40.
Roberts took command of the junior race, leading from the front and won in wire-to-wire fashion. The Running Brave athlete clocked 19m:42s for the first-place finish.
Jeremy Perreira of Bladen Hall Secondary finished second in 20 minutes, 19 seconds while Kaidon Persaud of the Upper Demerara Schools took third in 20m:35s.
Hannah Joseph was the victor of the female version of the race, crossing the tape in 20m:59s. Running Brave’s Esther McKinnon finished in 23m:41s, while DeChallengers’ Marissa Thomas completed the podium in 24 minutes and 49 seconds.
