media_artricles :: 2017

Deonanan conquers CariFin series with Cross Country title

Guardian Group's Kris Deonanan and ANSA Financial Services employee Christine Regis trumped the rest of the pack at the 26th Caribbean Financial Institutions' (CariFin) Games —cross-country run on May 28, at the Sevilla Golf Course in Couva.

With previous third place finishes in the Queen's Park Savannah One Lap event as well as the Green Mile run, and a second place result in Chancellor Challenge, Deonanan was first across the line in the cross -country run on Sunday, crowning himself overall champion in this year's four part series.

His winning cross-country time was 28 minutes and eight seconds, a full two minutes faster than his closest challenger and last year's winner, Abijah Phillip of Republic Bank Limited (RBL) who finished in 30 minutes, 15 seconds. Third went to Steve Blackburn of Unit Trust Corporation who clocked 31 minutes, 15 seconds and in fourth position was Deodath Harrikissoon from First Citizens.

Speaking after his winning run, Deonanan said, "Although I was confident going into the cross-country, I am a bit surprised to have won, especially knowing the level of talent that was represented on that day. Crossing the finish line was a great feeling and I literally had to take a moment to let it settle in."

For Regis, of ANSA Financial Services, her winning time of 24 minutes, three seconds sealed back to back victories for her in the CariFin Cross Country event. She was two minutes and 29 seconds ahead of Natalie Thomas of CBTT to hold on to her title. Third place went to First Citizens' Darcel Aguillera.

Regis said, "I feel really great, because I was a bit scared knowing that I came off of a very hard marathon last week and I am still in the recovery stage, so I was not sure how I was going to run today. My muscles are still sore but thank the Lord I did it and I came out victorious."

Sunday's cross-country run was preceded by a 2.2 kilometre walking race which was won by Harrikissoon of First Citizens on the men's side and by Tessa Weeks of RBL on the women's side who made it four wins out of four CariFin race-walking events in 2017 and is the only athlete to ever accomplish this feat.

The CariFin series included participants from nine other financial institutions including, ANSA Financial Services, Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT), First Citizens, JMMB Group, Royal Bank of Canada, Republic Bank Limited (RBL), Sagicor, Scotia Bank and Unit Trust Corporation.

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