media_artricles :: 2013

Towett to defend UWI SPEC half marathon title

The tenth annual UWI SPEC International Half-Marathon runs off tomorrow at UWI SPEC in St Augustine at 5.50 a.m., with over 1,000 runners from 12 countries expected to compete.

Among the high-profile athletes are Nigerian-born US runner Mary Akor, who is a seven-time Trinidad and Tobago International Marathon women’s champion. Akor was also the 2009 UWI SPEC half marathon ladies’ champion.

Reigning “Run Barbados” half-marathon champion Richard Kessio is also expected to compete, along with Cuba’s top distance runner Norbert Gutierrez Curbeco and duathlon champion Karla Urbina Rojas of Venezuela.

Defending male champion George Towett from Kenya will also be part of the race, which will see Trinidad and Tobago’s 400-metre hurdles world champion and UWI student Jehue Gordon fire the pistol to officially start the event.

T&T’s Tonya Nero will also be back to defend her women’s crown.

Top local-based distance runners Richard Jones, Curtis Cox and Jules La Rode will also be competing in the Open International category, which carries a first prize of US$2,000.

To mark the tenth anniversary for the event, ten persons will run the race, each for a different charity, and the public can donate to these charities.

Among those ten runners are radio personality Jason “JW” Williams of soca duo JW and Blaze, CNC3 news anchor Golda Lee Bruce and sports anchor James Saunders.

There is a Team/Club category, where the prizes are $8,000, $4,000, and $3,000 for the top three finishers respectively. Last year’s champions were the One-A-Week Club.

The 2013 UWI SPEC Seeded Runners
1. George Towett (Kenya)
2. Richard Kessio (Kenya)
3. Richard Jones (T&T)
4. Lionel Dandrade (Guyana)
5. Pamenos Ballantyne (St Vincent)
6. Norbert Gutierrez Curbeco (Cuba)
7. Rupert Green (Jamaica)
8. Curtis Cox (T&T)
9. Jules La Rode (T&T)
10. Tonya Nero (T&T)
11. Mary Akor (USA)
12. Karla Urbina Rojas (Venezuela)

Top