media_artricles :: 2015

O’Neil, Joseph grab Cross Country titles

Ryan O’Neil, Adona Joseph, Deodath Harrikissoon and Charlene Villafana all won their respective categories when the CariFin Games held its Cross Country event at the Sevilla Golf Course in Couva, earlier this month.

In the men’s cross country run, O’Neil, of Guardian Group, who won the previous races in the series, took command of the three-lap cross country race early on. At the end of the first lap he had already opened up a 30-second gap ahead of his competitors. At the end of the 7.2km course O’Neil won easily in 30 minutes and 30 seconds, more than two minutes ahead of second placed John Donaldson in 32:46. Rounding off the top three was Scotiabank’s Alvin Brown in 32:48.

After his fourth consecutive win in the series, O’Neil said, “I am just feeling happy as I won, everyone likes to win.” He felt that his football fitness gave him the edge and guided him through all the events. His advice to would be aspirants who would like to reach his level was, “train hard and never give up!”

O’Neil also led Guardian Group to the men’s cross country team title along with Kris Deonanan and Corey Joseph.

Joseph, of Sagicor, culminated a great CariFin season by with the women’s cross country title. Prior to the event, Joseph finished second in the One Lap Savannah and Green Mile events, while she won the Chancellor Challenge and the Aerobics Burnout. Joseph was able to claim victory easily in 25:41.

Her closest competition came from Jillette Landeau, of Guardian Group, who completed the course in 26:26 for second place. Third place went to Simone Balkissoon, of Guardian Group, who completed the two-lap journey in 28.12.

“I must say it was quite challenging,” said Joseph’s after the race. “My team-mates and I ran a couple days in the Queen’s Park Savannah Hollows just to get an idea of what to expect. I must say, that was quite misleading as the Sevilla Golf Course was ten times more intense but this also made my victory a more fulfilling one. I look forward to 2016.”

Joseph led Sagicor to the women’s cross country team title as Vitra George, Danielle Cazabon and Joseph combined for the lowest aggregate time.

Harrikissoon, of First Citizens, and Villafana, of Republic Bank, won the men’s and women’s walk, respectively.

The nine teams that participated in the Carifin Games this year were First Citizens, Grace Kennedy, Guardian Group, IBL Bank, Republic Bank, RBC, Sagicor, Scotiabank and Unit Trust Corporation.

The sponsors included Bluewaters, Subway, Brixel Design Studio, Unicom, Lezama Electrical, TATEC Ltd, Massy Motors, Massy Finance, True Green, Eastern Credit Union and Topmark.

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