media_artricles :: 2016

Nero, Kiptum win Bankers half-marathon race

Trinidad and Tobago's premier long distance woman runner Tonya Nero gave the country a 54th Independence anniversary gift by winning the Bankers Insurance International Half Marathon in Chaguanas yesterday morning.

Nero was so impressive that the crowd on hand was urging her to come into the top five in the open category. As she cut the tape in tenth overall in a time of one hour, 21 minutes and six seconds, the crowd erupted into applause.

Nero, a resident of Maracas St Joseph, seccured the first prize of $12,000 for her category.

On the men's side, defending champion Kenneth Rotich of Kenya was dethroned by his countryman Hillary Kiptum, who crossed the line first in a time of one hour five minutes 52 seconds. Kiptum was in tremendous form in good conditions as he was way ahead of the opposition. Rotich who is coached by Paul Voison, a former T&T road running champion, finished in 1.10.08.

Coming in third was Venezuelan Alexis Pena who is no stranger to this race. His time of 1.13.22 was good enough to keep T&T out of 1-2-3. T&T's best effort on the men's side came from Curtis Cox who touched the tape in 1.13.44.for fourth place.

With competitors coming from all around the region as well, Guyanese Kelvin Johnson who at one point was behind Nero, as the runners reached the Chaguanas Police Station, took off towards the end and came in fifth in 1.18.49.

The next five spots went to T&T participants—Elvis Turner, Jules La Rode, Collin Pierrera, Shrivan Baboolal and Nero in that order. It meant that T&T had six finishes in the top 10.

The race got off at Atlantic Plaza in Point Lisas with over 500 participants and Bankers presented each and everyone with a medal of participation. Managing director at Bankers Insurance Vance Gabriel said after the race that his company was very proud of the achievement.

He said: "This was our second year in terms of hosting this half marathon and after last year we thought that we could not have gotten better. This was not the case, we had a better event this year and this gives us added motivation to continue this wonderful event. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the staff at Bankers and all those wonderful people who volunteered to make this a successful event. I would also like to thank the Mayor of Chaguanas Gopaul Boodhan who graced us with his presence. This event is definitely here to stay and look out for even better and bigger things in the future."

Overall results
1st :05:52 HILLARY KIPTUM TOO - KENYA
2nd 1:10:08 KENNETH ROTICH - KENYA
3rd 1:13:23 ALEXIS DARBEL PEñA SANTI - V'ZUELA
4th 1:13:44 CURTIS COX - T&T
5th 1:18:49 KELVIN JOHNSON - GUY
6th 1:19:49 ELVIS TURNER - T&T
7th 1:20:09 JULES LA RODE - T&T
8th 1:20:31 COLLIN PEREIRA - T&T
9th 1:20:32 SHIRVAN BABOOLAL - T&T
10th 1:21:06 TONYA NERO - T&T (female)

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