By: Dean Greenaway
Photo credit: Dean Greenaway
Defending champion Shane DeGannes of the U.S. Virgin Islands, was probably a bit too hyped during Saturday’s 8th Ogier-BVI Sunrise Half Marathon, which attracted more than 100 participants for the firs time.
With St. Thomas counterpart Michael Thompson coming to compete after winning the M2M 8 mile run which he organized, DeGannes revealed he’d change his race strategy. He would run conservatively for the first three miles then see ‘who are the men from the boys.’
“I had some competition and got nervous,” DeGannes revealed. “I turned early at the gas station, didn’t go all the way to the roundabout (Port Purcell) I don’t know if that was anxiousness or what, but I did mess that up.”
With DeGannes leading the field and making the turn, Thompson and Guy Williamson followed. At the Pockwood Pond turn around they had to run extra to make up the previous distance and DeGannes finished in a time of 1 hour 29 minutes and 18 seconds. Williamson was second in 1:30.03 and Thomas Hanna, third in 1:35.25.
“I said I wanted to stay with the guys and go out conservatively but, I got a little anxious after mile two and got a little scared with them on my heels so I just wanted to open up and put some distance between them,” he explained adding that the run felt good. “The weather was nice and cool with the rain and the sun wasn’t out,” he noted. “The wind wasn’t grueling on the way back home so the conditions were good.”
Williamson said he didn’t really have a strategy as he took time off after wining the Ceres Juices 10K Series finale on Nov 9.
“I wanted to see how thing were going and I took it fairly conservative the first half and I was pushing it really hard on the way home because it felt good and I think we only ended up about 50 seconds apart,” he reflected. “I didn’t realize that when I was coming in, but you couldn’t ask for better conditions. It was like an Irish summer and that suited me great.”
Ruth Ann David too defended her title, ended up taking a longer route but won in 1:35.52, with the BVI’s Katrina Crumpler second in 1:41.38. The mistake cost her the women’s record. “I had to work extra hard to catch up and caught three of the guys who passed me but the one who I passed towards the end, he passed me just before we finished,” she said. “It was a hot race. I think I could have run 1:29 something.”
At the halfway mark, Crumpler said David was ahead of her and she knew she would not have been able to close the gap. “My strategy was just to say at about a 7 minute mile pace for as long as I could and that is roughly what I did, although we both ran further,” she noted. “It was interesting because I was around a lot more people than if I had turned around so, it as quite interesting to be passing people. That was good.”
Race Director Kay Reddy said it was the biggest race in the event’s history. “I was thinking this morning that it was going to rain and all the lead guys said to me ‘fantastic, these are the conditions that we like’ so even the weather played good for us with just a little shower and nothing too heavy,” she explained. “Everybody had a good time good times were set so it was a good race.”
Final Results. Men: 1. Shane DeGannes, 1 hour 29 minutes and 18 seconds. 2. Guy Williamson, 1:30:03. 3. Thomas Hannah, 1:35:24. 4. Reuben Stoby, 1:35:46. 5. Ravindra “Ravi” Sukhu, 1:36:22. 6. Michael Thompson, 1:38:02. 7. Jacques Roux, 1:38:33. 8. Adam Thill, 1:41:53. 9. Maxford Pipe, 1:42:31. 10. Curwin Andrews, 1:44:18. 11. Adrian Dale, 1:47:39. 12. Aaron Gardner, 1:48:12. 13. Andries Dippenaar, 1:49:22. 14. Jonathan McCarthy, 1:49:42. 15. David Kinkead, 1:51:12. 16. Matthew Lutz, 1:53:11. 17. Russell Crumpler, 1:54:36. 18. Ray Wearmouth, 1:54:42. 19. Daniel Mitchell, 1:55:39. 20. Charles Kerins, 1:57:59. 20. Michael Killourhy, 1:58:19. 21. Adam Simmonds, 1:58:49. 22. Gary Salter, 1:59:35. .23. Kenton Jones, 2:00:45. 24. Steven Laplace, 2:00:52. 25. 26. Arron Seddon, 2:04:10. 27. Michael Sheesley, 2:05:36. 28. Graeme Whillis, 2:06:51. 29. Chris Ghiorse, 2:08:31. 30. Ruairi Bourke, 2:09:10. 31. Reineke Kerkvliet, 2:10:26. 32. Rodrigo dos Santos, 2:10:43. 33. Stefano Tasking, 2:14:09. 34. Howard Moore,
2:14:51. 35. Johnny Bailey, 2:15:00. 36. Peter Reichenstein, 2:24:46. 37. Ben Bourdeaux, 2:27:29. 38. Guy Paul, 2:27:45. 39. Stephen Beard, 2:41:06.
Women: 1. Ruth Ann David, 1:35:52. 2. Katrina Crumpler, 1:41:38. 3. Kathleen Brownsdon, 1:44:00. 4. Rebecca Paul, 1:45:40. 5. Kim Takeuchi, 1:50:35. 6. Clare-Louise Whiley, 1:53:11. 7. Sarah Swan, 1:53:43. 8. Julliane Potgieter, 1:58:43. 9. Nimade Oniasih, 1:58:56. 10. Vivian Toro, 1:59:48. 11. Lisa Adamson, 2:00:11. 12. Gillian Howe, 2:01:45. 13. Gillian Claxton, 2:04:20. 14. Jude Kinkead, 2:04:32. 15. Sarah Hayes, 2:05:23. 16. Sue Tucker, 2:06:49. 17. Alison Slimming, 2:07:18. 18. Natasha Ruscheinski, 2:08:42. 19. Jenny McIvor, 2:09:25. 20. Kerry-Ann dos Santos, 2:10:43. 21. Casey McNutt, 2:10:51. 22. Rhiannon Jones, 2:11:17. 23. Laura Dore, 2:11:54. 24. Philomena Robertson, 2:12:32. 25. Anna Kinkead, 2:12:58. 26. Kay Reddy, 2:14:10. 27. Debbie Bell, 2:14:12. 28. Margaret Majette, 2:14:41. 29. Emily Titchmarch, 2:18:05. 30. Katie Shey, 2:18:11. 31. Sharada Shaw, 2:18:58. 32. Arlene Auguste, 2:20:08. 33. Rosmond Johnson, 2:21:55. 34. Debbie Ridgeway, 2:22:34. 35. Sally Blackmore, 2:24:15. 36. Charlotte Brigden, 2:25:05. 37. Sachkia Barnes, 2:26:27. 38. Shirley Liburd, 2:29:04. 39. Emmarentia Beckmann, 2:31:32. 40. Amity Hill, 2:36:04. 41. Emma Bailey, 2:36:24. 42. Caroline Roux, 2:38:21. 43. Eleanor Morgan, 2:39:05. 44. Prudence Cooper, 2:40:04. 45. Noni Georges, 2:41:46. (10 miles) Rachel Munro, 2:52:30.
Relay Teams: 1. Scarlet Wallabies, (John Reardon-John and Shand Donovan) 1:55:15. 2. Tek Dat. (Tebelio Rodriguez, Adenike Sicard, Barbara Pinnock-Smith, Marvin Flax) 2:06:21.
Walkers: 1. Gerald Rose, 2:51:36. 2. Lisa Brisden, 2:59:49. 3. Sofia Fay, 3:02:28. 4. Natalie Fay, 3:20:11. 5. Jenny McCleary, 3:21:31. 6. Michael Fay, 3:27:34.
