Kenya’s Alex Ebirori Ekesa and Colombian Palmenia Agudelo Berrio on Sunday claimed the top spots in the men’s and women’s categories of the T&T International Marathon which started and ended at White Hall at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port-of-Spain.
Both joined the long list of foreign entrants who have come here and have competed successfully.
Ekesa was all alone on the final stretch, breaking the ribbon at the end to stop the clock at two hours, 31 minutes and 28 seconds for the top spot, gold medal, and cash award at stake, while Berrio produced a jaw-dropping seventh-place finish overall in a field that consisted of some 100 participants.
Like the Kenyan, Berrio had only male participants on the stretch as she strutted to the finish line in style, leaving scores of male competitors in her trail, and stopping the clock at 2:58.23.
The country’s first women’s finisher Chantel Le Maitre took second place, as she posted a time of 3:42.34 while defending champion T&T’s Shardie Mahabir, who was aiming for her third straight women’s title, had to settle for third place posting a time of 3:53.29 to finish 16 overall.
Their compatriots Christine Regis (3:59.10) and Sjaelan Evans (4:08.42) filled the remaining spots respectively in the top five.
In the men’s competition, Ekesa was followed closely in the second place by T&T’s Collin Pereira, whose finish in a time of two hours, 36 minutes, and 31 seconds prevented a top-two finish by foreign athletes. However, the trend continued with Jose Ararat Diaz of Colombia taking third approximately ten minutes after Pereira.
Ararat’s two hours, 46 minutes, and 38 seconds was enough to earn him his place, with the trio of Elvis Turner (2:53.13), Christopher Mitchell (2:54.46), and veteran Curtis Cox (2:57.39), respectively, taking the fourth, fifth and sixth-place positions.
Cox has dominated middle to long-distance racing in T&T for many years with a second-place finish in the 2017 edition of the event in a time of 2:41:43 being his best-ever finish in the race.
Apart from Cox, Great Britain’s Chris Dick had to settle for eighth place behind Berrio in 3:15.35, while Mark Lee Son and Keron Ragbirsingh completed the top 10 finishers in respective times of 3:16.17 and 3:27.18.
In the half marathon, Phillip James and Shari Thomas emerged the champions.
James won the men’s race in a time of 1:18.25 ahead of Keron Ali (1:26.25) and David Schweitzer (1:29.27), respectively. Thomas crossed the finish line in 1:53.37 to take the women’s title comfortably ahead of Swayne Oscar (2:00.06) and Kyuwon Son (OAW) with 2:00.29.
Results
Marathon
Top 10
Overall: 1 Alex Ebirori Ekesa (Kenya) 2:31.28; 2 Collin Pereira (T&T) 2:36.31; 3 Jose Ararat Diaz (Colombia) 2:46.38; 4 Elvis Turner (T&T) 2:53.13; 5 Christopher Mitchell (T&T) 2:54.46; 6 Curtis Cox (T&T) 2:57.39; 7 Palmenia Agudelo Berrio (Colombia) 2:58.23; 8 Chris Dick (Great Britain) 3:15.35; 9 Mark Lee Son (T&T) 3:16.17; 10 Keron Ragbirsingh (T&T) 3:27.18.
Top 5
Men: 1 Alex Ebirori Ekesa (Kenya) 2:31.28; 2 Collin Pereira (T&T) 2:36.31; 3 Jose Ararat Diaz (Colombia) 2:46.38; 4 Elvis Turner (T&T) 2:53.13; 5 Christopher Mitchell (T&T) 2:54.46.
Women: 1 (7) Palmenia Agudelo Berrio (Colombia) 2:58.23; 2 (14) Chantel Le Maitre (T&T) 3:42.34; 3 (16) Shardie Mahabir (T&T) 3:53.29; 4 (19) Christine Regis (T&T) 3:59.10; 5 (21) Sjaelan Evans (T&T) 4:08.42.
Half marathon
Top 10
Overall/Men: 1 Phillip James (Belmont) 1:18.25; 2 Keron Ali (Defence Force) 1:26.25; 3 David Schweitzer (Port-of-Spain) 1:29.27; 4 Shiv Maraj (San Fernando) 1:37.09; 5 Brandon Gransaull (La Romaine) 1:38.26; 6 Jervon Casanova (TTRRC) 1:39.09; 7 Shay Gonzales (Arima) 1:39.50; 8 Damian Joseph (Team Fun Runnerz) 1:40.50; 9 Steve Don R Polo (Port-of-Spain) 1:42:53; 10 Marlon Scott (Palo Seco) 1:43.05.
Women: 1 (22) Shari Thomas (Santa Cruz) 1:53.37; 2 (28) Swayne Oscar (Coast guard) 2:00.06; 3 (29) Kyuwon Son (OAW) 2:00.29; 4 (36) Jeanine Newton (Richard Jones Racing) 2:03.51; 5 (39) Corene Procope (Marabella) 2:04.39; 6 (40) Anna Pounder (Mall Crawlers) 2:05.39; 7 (42) Stacey Edwards (OAW) 2:07.24; 8 (43) Deborah Rogers (Island Hikers) 2:07.35; 9 (57) Vanessa Poyer-Dipnarine (Matrix Rewind) 2:11.40; 10 (62) Khadija Lamy (Arima) 2:13.46.