By Clayton Clarke in Trinidad & Tobago
Tonya Nero won her third straight Trinidad and Tobago International Half Marathon at the Queen's Park Savannah on Sunday (January 26).
Nero clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 25 seconds (1:20.25) to finish the 13.1 mile race, which ended in front of White Hall.
The 25 year old ran most of the race unchallenged to cross the line more than 15 minutes ahead Celine Lestrade (TTO) 1:35.04 and Christina Laurent (GUD) 1: 35.32).
Nero, who was fifth overall, expressed delight. "It was a really good race today. It was cool (conditions to run in). Nero added that she gave a greater effort his year. "I trained harder this year. Last year I had a knee injury and was not training as much."
Guyana's Kelvin Johnson took the men's half marathon in 1:15:17 ahead of his countryman dethroned champion Lionel Dandrade (1:17.23).
Kenyan Leah Kigen retained the women's marathon by clocking 3:01.13. Kigen's winning time was close to ten minutes slower than her 2013 effort (2:52.30).
Canadian Karen Downey took the second spot (3:23.11) ahead of Areita Martin of Jamaica (3:31.19).
Kenyans took the first two places in the men's race with Hilary Kimaiyo 2:23.39 and Mark Chepes, who had to settle for second for the third straight year, 2:24.09.
Defending champ Juan Carlos Cardona of Colombia had to settle for third in 2:26.51.
Kimaiyo was more than eight minutes shy of the course record (2:15.30-Pamenos Ballyntine-St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Veteran Cantius Thomas was the first the T&T's finisher in sixth (2:55.54). Former winner Curtis Cox was 10th (3:08.47).
On Saturday (January 26) Richard Jones took the 5K. Jones crossed the finish line in 16 minutes 10 seconds to beat Guyanese pair of Kelvin Johnson (16:29) and Lionel D'Andrade of Guyana (16:32).
A new female champion was crowned as Janelle Nedd sped to victory in 20:51. Sarah Subero (21:58) and Thais Gutierrez (22:02) were second and third respectively.
Earlier in the afternoon, Trinity College team of Judah Taylor, Joshua Ho, Dillon Pierre and Jamal Beckford, captured the School Relays.
For complete results: http://www.odesseytiming.com
