media_artricles :: 2013

Towett, Nero to defend UWI Half Marathon titles

Reigning champions George Towett (Kenya/USA) and Tonya Nero (T&T) are among the seeded runners who will join more than 1,000 top local and foreign participants at the milestone tenth anniversary of the University of the West Indies Sport and Physical Education (UWISPEC) International Half-Marathon, which is carded to run off at 5.50 am, on October 27, in front of the sporting centre’s St Augustine Circular venue. The 13.1-mile First Citizens-sponsored charity race, which is sanctioned by the National Association of Athletics Administrations and has grown from some 300 runners in since its inception to the record 1,010 athletes, is a traffic-free event, which starts and finishes at UWI Spec with La Resource, D’Abadie, (via the Priority Bus Route) used as the turn-around point.

Twenty-five runners are seeded, including locals Richard Jones (last year’s runner-up), Matthew Hagley, Curtis Cox, as well as St Lucia’s Zephyrenus Joseph, St Vincent’s Pamenos Ballantyne, Nigeria’s Mary Akor, among other household names. The race maintains its traffic-free status. It offers $150,000 in cash prizes, with the winner in the male and female open/international events pocketing US$2,000 each. For further incentive, the organisers have also offered US$1,000 to both the male and female runner who successfully breaks the course record. Speaking at the launch of the event at the UWI, St Augustine, yesterday, director of the UWISPEC, Justin Latapy-George, said the mission of the marathon is to “provide a recognised and internationally-approved competitive avenue within the region that is synonymous with professional execution and consistency under the auspices of the UWI.

“As part of our 2013 execution plan, the half marathon will seek to promote the element of corporate social responsibility entrenched within the UWI’s strategic perspectives of outreach. “‘The 10 Initiative,’ a new component to the race which allows ten specifically-chosen representatives, both of the public and within the campus, the opportunity to run for a charity. The ten were selected based on their standing within the public and/or the university’s community, as well as our belief that they will invite and encourage the type of support that will make the objective of this initiative a success. The ten persons named were: Will Iton (UWI registrar, Student Bursary), Stephen Sheppard (UWI director, HR, Habitat For Humanity), James Saunders (media, Is There Not A Cause), Jason Williams (media, Break the Silence), Golda Lee-Bruce (media, Guardian Neediest Cases Fund), John Donaldson (First Citizens, Rape Crisis Society of T&T), Renata Sankar (UWI staff, T&T Coalition Against Domestic Violence), Jeremy Bellamy (UWI, Arrive Alive), Kerrie-Kim Kirton (Keith Stanford Sobion Foundation) and Sterle Timothy (UWI student/athlete, Syphil Home in Love). Registration began yesterday and is set to close on October 18, or before once the limit of 1,010 entries is reached.

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