News & Updates

The Caribbean Child Development Centre (CCDC) of the Consortium for Social Research and Development of the Open Campus, The University of the West Indies (UWI), in partnership with the Childhood an

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FG_AUTHORS: Open Campus

{gallery}http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuwi/sets/72157632027618744/{/gallery} The ninth edition of the highly anticipated UWI SPEC International Half-Marathon took place on Sunday, October 28, with more than 800 participants turning up for the 6am start outside the UWI Sports and Physical Education Centre. Last year’s winner, Kenyan-born US-based George Towett, made it a double with a time of 1 hour, six minutes and 41 seconds, while Trinidad and Tobago finally won the women’s title when the country’s top long-distance runner Tonya Nero beat out all the competition to finish in 1:18:19.
The win made it Towett’s third UWI SPEC half-marathon title in seven years. The 28-year-old battled very humid and tough conditions and was almost two minutes slower than his winning time last year. In second place, more than a minute behind Towett, was local favourite Richard Jones (1:09:42), while Matthew Hagley took third place (1:10:05), with Curtis Cox (1:10:28) and Ramirez (1:11:17) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Olympian Jehue Gordon fired the pistol to start the race at 6 am sharp, while comedian Errol Fabian entertained the crowd with his commentary of the race.
When no one went with Towett, the race was over as a contest and he kept increasing his lead consistently with strong breaths and smooth cadence.
The 23-year-old Nero was even more convincing a victor than Towett, since the closest female finisher was Celine Lestrade, who was almost 20 minutes behind her (1:35:05). In third place was Juliet John-Sambrano.

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