The 2018 edition of the T&T International marathon was dominated by foreign athletes. The 35th edition of the prestigious race was captured by Stephen Njoroge of Mexico.
Njoroge who is originally from Kenya is based in Mexico and has been eyeing the T&T marathon title for a while. He finished the race in two hours, 23 minutes and four seconds (2.23.04) holding off his brother Simon Njoroge who clocked 2:34.36. In third position was Andres Malaver of Columbia who touched the tape in 2: 26.05.
The top Caribbean finisher was Cuban Richer Perez who crossed finished 5th overall in 2:34:36. The top T&T runner was Curtis Cox who finished ninth in 2:53:43, while Leah Kigen was the top woman to cross in a time of 3:00:11 to finish 11th overall.
The top two T&T women Celine Lestrade (3:14:09) who was the 5th amongst the women and Sjaelan Evans (3:21:23) who was the 6th.
This marked the 35th edition of the T&T International Marathon and out 146 runners that registered only 77 finished the 26.2 miles course which started on the Southern main Roard, St Mary's junction in Freeport at 5 am yesterday morning and took the field on a journey on a flat and undulating traversed through approximately five communities towards the capital, Port of Spain, and conclude opposite White Hall at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
The men's and women's champions pocketed TT$33,750 each, while other incentives and awards were presented other finishers. The two-day event was supported by Colfire which is celebrating 60 years in exsistance and Command Performance, a product of National Flour Mills, Gatorade, Blue Waters, Subway and Ma Pau.
The T&T National KISS 5K which took place on Saturday and Ted Johnson of Venezuela topped the field of 408 participants. He ran home in a time of 18 minutes 49 seconds. In second place was Dwayne Roach in a time of 19 minutes, 33 seconds and third was Omesh Persaud who clocked 19:35 seconds.
The top woman finisher was Johnson's compatriot Palmenia Berrio who came in at 19 minutes 41 seconds. She was fourth overall in the race and would have inspired local girl Samantha Shukla who came in 5th, just 10 seconds later.