Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Fourth CARICOM 10k race set for Antigua today
Morgan aims for 4th consecutive title and Guyana 10k record
By Sean Devers
The 108sq mile Island of Antigua will host the fourth annual CARICIOM 10k race this morning (June 29) and defending female champion Guyanese Alika Morgan aims to run away with her fourth consecutive title.
Kelvin Johnson, who finished fourth in Barbados in last year’s event, will face a much sterner test than his compatriot Morgan as he hopes to dethrone 33-year-old Caribbean running sensation Vincentian Pamenos Ballantyne.
Morgan, who celebrates her 18th birthday in September and her Guyanese Rising Star club-mate Johnson are the two athletes representing Guyana in this event which attracts runners from all of the CARICOM nations.
Morgan, who has been competing since age 12, finished in the second spot the inaugural CARICOM 10k race in St Lucia in 2005 but was eventually awarded the female title after it was discovered that the winner was not a CARICOM national.
The talented Guyanese lass proceeded to win the 2006 competition in St Kitts and successfully retained her title in the last event in Barbados with a time of 38:20:02.
The Guyanese pair is being accompanied to the Eastern Caribbean Island by their Manager Avril Black and Morgan, competing in her first major race since writing CXC exams in May, has her sights on the G
uyana 10k record of 37:02:20 set by Abidemi Charles in the USA in 2003 while competing for her College there.
Morgan, who will attend the IOC pre-Olympic camp in Beijing China for promising young athletes around the world, is eager to finish today’s race under 38 minutes after running fourth in her last international event last year in Barbados.
Morgan finished fourth with a time of 38:38:05 behind runners from the USA and United Kingdom.
Morgan’s trainer Leslie Black feels his charge is well equipped to make it ‘four in a row’ and says that she is well prepared despite ‘taking it a bit easy’ to concentrate on her CXC exams.
Black, who also trains Johnson, is confident that the Guyanese will provide a stern challenge to the veteran Ballantyne although he concedes that the Caribbean’s top distance runner will be hard to beat. Johnson placed third in the inaugural CARICOM 10k race in St Lucia.
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