-Kelvin Johnson places sixth

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Kenyan distance runner Alfonsi Kibor Yatich made a winning debut at the sixth annual University of the West Indies Sports and Physical Educational Centre (SPEC) International Half-Marathon yesterday.

Running in his first race since claiming the US$18, 000 winner’s prize at the prestigious Baltimore Marathon in October, Yatich was dominant from the start.

Taking advantage of the favourable early morning conditions, he established a huge lead and his win continued the dominance of Africa-born runners, who have won every men’s race since its inception in 2004.

By the time Yatich got to the turnaround point at La Resource Junction in D’Abadie, the only runner in sight was Simon Sawe, a past winner of the Clico T&T Marathon who runs for the USA.

Sawe would eventually fall off the strong pace however, leaving Yatich alone up front.

At one point Yatich, was on target to break the record of one hour, five minutes, 06.90 seconds established by Kenyan Ernest Kimeli in 2006. He fell short in the end, returning a time of 1:06:47.4.

Sawe finished more than two minutes behind the winner in 1:08:56.0 with third place going to reigning Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) champion St Lucian Zepherinus Joseph in 1:09.09.2. Joseph was second last year.

Richard Jones was the first local runner to cross the line with a time of 1:10:09.3.

Other T&T runners in the top 10 were Ronnie Holassie (1:10:09.3) fifth, Jules La Rode (1:11:52.5) seventh, Curtis Cox (1:13:06.9) eighth and Brian Maynard (1:17:38.0) tenth.

Multiple T&T Clico marathon winner, Pamenos Ballantyne of St Vincent and The Grenadines, was ninth with Kelvin Johnson (1:11.22.0) of Guyana sixth.

Nigeria-born American runner Mary Akor claimed the US$2,000 first prize among the women, finishing the course in 1:18:46.0.

Jamaican Tanice Barnett was a distant runner-up in 1:24:58.0 with T&T’s Shermin Lasaldo, who won the event in 2007, finishing third in 1:24.58.0.

A record 958 runners faced the starter in the race, an increase from the 750 which participated in last year’s event.