Denzel Ramirez of the Defence Force may have been under the radar but that was before Saturday's 9th annual TTARP 5K when he ran like the wind to secure victory in 15 minutes 9 seconds, announcing that he is ready to stake his claim for honours in Sunday's UWI SPEC International half-marathon.
Kelvin Johnson, the second man home showed that he too was in good nick clocking 15:22, improving on his time last year by one minutes, eight seconds. Also finishing under 16 minutes were Lionel Dandrade, third in 15:40, and Jules La Rode, fourth in 15:44.
In a shade over 16 minutes in the sunny conditions, Sterlen Paul (16:02) placed fifth, and Kent Baboolal (16:04) was sixth. In seventh place was Volwin Mercurius (16:26), eighth was Colin Perreira (16:56), ninth was Cantius Thomas (17:16) and tenth was Denny Gualbance (17:21) of Santa Flora.
Celine Lestrade was the first woman to finish the course which started and finished at the TTARP building on Belmont Circular Road making a loop around the Queen's Park Savannah. Lestrade clocked 19 minutes 23 seconds. In second place was Shania Francis in 21:57 with Zara Suite-Stewart third in 22:08. 16-year-old Elia Nero, cousin of Tonya Nero, was fourth in 23:25. Claudine Antoine (24:03) was fifth followed by Alana Lee Wo (24:15) of + One A Week in sixth. Seventh was Glenn Moore (24:26), eighth was Christine Farah (24:29) of Rainbow Warriors, nineth was Keisha Lindsay (24:30) and tenth was Rosamund Jolly (25:22).