By BVIAA
USVI’s Shane DeGannes, left, 3-peated as BVI Sunrise Half Marathon champion with Guy Williamson placing and 2007 champ Steven Asson, finishing third. Photo: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
St. Thomas’ Shane DeGannes became the first 3-peat winner in the nine-year history of the Deloitte-Ogier BVI Sunrise Half Marathon on Saturday.
His counterpart Ruth Ann David who was trying to accomplish the same feat, inadvertently missed the ferry and was unable to defend her title in a race won by Katrina Crumpler.
As in the past, DeGannes ran unchallenged, leading from start to finish for an eight minute victory over Guy Williamson, navigating the looped winding course on Tortola’s south coast in 1 hour 21 minutes and 18 seconds—the fastest of his three victories.
Steven Asson—the 2007 champ—placed third behind Williamson’s 1:29.46 in 1:30.48.
“I’m happy with the performance, a little disappointed because I really wanted to go under 1:20, but 1:21, I can’t be mad at that because I was four minutes faster than last year,” DeGannes noted. “I really wanted to do that 1:19. However, I’m on cloud nine right now. I’ve really worked hard towards this race in particular and I was very, very happy to pull off the 3-peat.”
For Williamson who had been focusing on other sports it was his first race of the year and said he was happy to get into the race, noting that DeGannes pushed a blistering pace.
“I always feel that if someone is willing to push a blistering pace early and put themselves on the line, fair play to Shane,” he said. “I wasn’t going to chase that. But Steve pushed a nice pace, which I felt was a good pace to stick with. And at about 10 miles, I felt like I could push a little bit harder and we had the Irish weather which was really nice and cooled things down.”
Prior to the race, Asson, the 2007 champ established a goal of placing in the top five. “I got into the first five and I believed in myself,” he stated afterwards. “But, I’m proud I placed in the first three and not the first five.”
Crumpler, who won the event for the first time, said the weather conditions were great. “Just a bit disappointed in the time,” she said. “The conditions were right but maybe the race two weeks ago (Diva Half Marathon in Puerto Rico) is still affecting me. It’s still a reasonable time so I’m still happy. It’s my fastest in the BVI.”
St. Thomas’ Joy Bryan Silva had her best showing placing second to Crumpler. “It was hard. It was windy. It was rainy but it was wonderful and I’ll come back,” she said. “It was awesome and I liked the rain—it was better for me—I’m not sure it was better for everybody else.”
Race founder Simon Cook who was away and missed the last six editions said the event has now turned into a professional race. “We started with 40 then and having about 140 today feels like a professional race,” he pointed out. “The organization was awesome. There are so many people out there at the water stops and supporting. It’s going to get bigger and bigger I think.”
Final Results
Men: 1. Shane DeGannes, 1 hour 21 minutes and 18 seconds. 2. Guy Williamson, 1:29:46. 3. Steven Asson, 1:30:48. 4. Julius Farley, 1:33:54. 5. Curwin Andrews, 1:34:46. 6. Ravindra Sukhu, 1:35:00. 7. Rondrigo Dos Santos, 1:37:57. 8. Mike Sheesley, 1:41:32. 9. Ciaran O’Shaughnessy, 1:42:24. 10. Vaughan Van Oudtshoorn, 1:43:30. 11. Aaron Gardner, 1:44:06. 12. Simon Cook, 1:46:02. 13. Richard Morgan, 1:47:43. 14. Russell Crumpler, 1:48:25. 15. Adrian Dale, 1:50:48. 16. Shaun Reardon John, 1:52:02. 17. Gary Salter, 1:53:50. 18. Charles Kerins, 1:53:55. 19. Rafael Ubior Garces, 1:54:08. 20. Andy Vega, 1:54:08. 21. Janis Heibel, 1:56:06. 22. Daniel Mitchell, 1:56:27. 23. Ruairi Bourke, 1:56:57. 24. Manuel Lanzas, 1:58:18. 25. Paul Hubbard, 1:58:34. 26. Chris Conway, 2:00:28. 27. Ray Wearmouth, 2:01:55. 28. Shane Donovan, 2:05:33. 29. Tom Parish, 2:06:31. 30. Garfield Neita, 2:09:24. 31. Andrew Palmer, 2:12:34. 32. Willem Kerkvliet, 2:12:58. 33. Sandro Strunk, 2:13:02. 34. Gareth Watkins, 2:13:56.84. 35. Arun Keshap, 2:15:33. 36. Alejandro Alvarez, 2:16:07. 37. Jonathan McCarty, 2:19:57. 38. Edgar Luciano, 2:20:51. 39. Andrew Gillilano, 2:21:41. 40. Stuart Bruce, 2:22:00. 41. Jonathon Addo, 2:20:22. 42. Howard Moore, 2:27:13. 43. Jose Pabellon, 2:28:06. 44. Jim Cullimore, 2:34:32. 45. Stephen Beard, 2:39:47.
Female: 1. Katrina Crumpler, 1:38:02. 2. Joy Bryan-Silva, 1:45:20. 3. Clare-Louise Whiley, 1:46.16. 4. Rosmond Johnson, 1:50:48. 5. Nimade Oniasih, 1:53:59. 6. Richie Paul, 1:54:33. 7. Kay Reddy, 1:57:31. 8. Melissa Brunner, 1:58:27. 9. Jenny McIvor, 2:00:12. 10. Caitlin Goodman, 2:01:17. 11. Jana Ferguson, 2:01:59. 12. Natasha Ruscheinski, 2:02:18. 13. Rebecca Cook, 2:02:33. 14. Lauren Julien, 2:06:55. 15. Casey McNutt, 2:07:54. 16. Claudia Ferrari, 2:09:44. 17. Kerry-Ann Dos Santos, 2:11:52. 18. Morise Aviles, 2:13:46. 19. Alexandra Bartsch, 2:14:18. 20. Jill Malcolm, 2:19:51. 21. Latonia Garnett Stapleton, 2:20:03. 22. Laura Dore, 2:22:03. 23. Stephanie Wessels, 2:24:00. 24. Nicole Isaac, 2:24:18. 25. Candice Grant, 2:24:49. 26. Maxine Jones, 2:25:37. 27. Amy Campbell, 2:25:47. 28. Jeannette Lopez, 2:27:01. 29. Josie Barnes-Mastache, 2:27:10. 30. Monique Simon, 2:28:22. 31. Ghislaine Hoogendijk, 2:28:37. 32. Miriah Gonzalez, 2:28:51. 33. Clair Burke, 2:30:32. 34. Nadalet Diaz, 2:32:40. 35. Ita Quesada, 2:33:14. 36. Barbara O’Neal, 2:35:36. 37. Zulma Mendez, 2:37:06. 38. Janice Ramos Prado, 2:37:07. 39. Millie Castro, 2:37:32. 40. Jenny McConnell, 2:45:19. 43. 41. Lisa Brown, 2:51:34. 42. Jill Farley, 2:52:17. 43. Amber Walker, 2:59.36.
Power Walkers: 1. Lisa Bridson, 2:45:34. 2. Louisa Blackmore, 3:14:19.
Teams: 1. Sensusational, 1:41:56. 2. Bitchalot, 1:55:27. 3. Jess Santos/Gillian Plaxton team, 2:03:57. 4. Dara Smith/Rhiannon Jones Team, 2:05:46. 5. Judy Haycraft/Katie Hendersen, 2:09:29. 6. Faster Than Snails, 2:17:32. 7. Deloitte Divas, 2:33:12.
