media_artricles :: 2017

Rotich returning to defend Venture 5k title

... as the late Desmond Baxter will be honoured

Kenyan Kenneth Rotich will return to Couva on September 13th to defend his Venture 5K title, but on the women's side, local charge Tonya Nero remains a doubt. The latter is currently working on a professional visa that can aid her in travelling between the United States and T&T to continue her long distance athletic career internationally.

However, already a number of names are being looked at to compensate for Nero's absence, including a Kenyan long distance runner. Elite athletes from around the Caribbean will take part, including Guyana's Clevland Forde and Andrew Missigier, Linda Mc Dowall from St Vincent, and Teneisha Pascal coming from Grenada.

The theme of this year's event is 'We Care, We Share'. The event will also the platform to honour the late Desmond Baxter, who was one of the founding members of Venture Credit Union. Baxter worked closely with the race committee for 16 years in promoting and spreading the Venture Run and 5K Walk. In his memory, organisers will honour his memory and contribution by having his name scribed on the trophy - the Desmond Baxter Challenge trophy, going to the race winner.

This is the 18th edition of the event and over 2000 participants are expected. It's grown enormously from the mere 46 runners that took part when the race was first ran in 1999. To show how far the event has come, all runners will have a chip pinned to their numbers which will instantly register their finishing spot upon completion.

In both the elite men and women's categories, the winners will take home $3000 each, with the second places earning $2000 and the third places winning $1500. There will also be seven age groups, with prizes for the top three finishers in each. In the age group categories, first placed finishers will win $300, while the second placed participants will get $200 with $150 going to the third placed finishers. The categories include Under-15s, ages 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60 and over.

More prizes will be given out this year than ever before. Financial prizes will be awarded to the biggest team that participates, including from gyms and schools. The usual prizes for physically challenged competitors have also been included again.

The route of the race starts opposite the Couva Police Station, then heads towards the JTA complex. From there, the course turns towards Fourth Avenue, then into First Avenue. It then goes into Grand Street, then up the Southern Main Road, and finishes in front of Venture Credit Union. The 25 year old Rotich won last year's race in a time of 14:34. He was followed in by Clevland Forde and Winston Missigher, both from Guyana. This is a race usually dominated by foreign competitors. Curtis Cox was T&T's highest finisher last year in fifth, in a time of 15:56, and he will be returning to retain his title

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