The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE Spencer Deleveaux and Yunelis Lightbourn emerged as the overall champions in the Bahamas Half Marathon, the champions in the 10 kilometre race were Adelet Elysee and Anastasia Stitch.

The four champions were crowned on Sunday morning as the event, held for the third consecutive year by the Bahamas Roadmasters, took place around Arawak Cay.

Deleveaux, 25, still completing his medical degree, picked up his second half marathon victory as he added to his triumph in the Bahamas Marathon that is held in January. Deleveaux, who got started running while attending the University of Miami eight years ago, took Sunday’s half marathon in one hour, 26 minutes and 13 seconds. His nearest rival was Billy Barone, 51, who did 1:30.59. Mark Hussy, 50, came in third in 1:33.38.

“Next year, I hope to come back and run again,” Deleveaux said. “I enjoyed it. It was a very nice course and I didn’t work too hard. There was a lot of competition, but I managed to pull away and I won it.”

With two titles under his belt, Deleveaux said he intends to continue running.

Lighbourn, 40, has been living here for the past 14 years after getting married to be a Bahamian. The TG Glover teacher improved on her second place finish last year by taking the title in 1:41.16. She was eighth overall.

Jennifer Lutz, 41, was the next female finisher in 1:43.09 for 10th overall and Crystal Strachan, 29, took third place in 1:44.47 for 12th overall.

“I was really focused and I was training hard, although I strained my calf on Monday,” said Lightbourn, a Cuban native. “I wanted to run so I just said my prayers before I left home. I just wanted to complete the half marathon, even if I didn’t win it.”

With the help of her coach Michael Armbrister, Lightbourn said she got the necessary treatment and was able to run. She credited Ryan Bethell for helping to pull her through the race. Bethell finished two spots above her in 1:38.39.

In the shorter 10K race, Elysee was the first finisher to cross the line in 41.47. The 21-year-old, who just received his Bahamian citizenship in July and acquired his passport three weeks ago, beat out a strong field that saw Jason Maynard, 38, take second in 42.42 with Stitch, the first female, coming in third in 42.44.

“It was good. It was okay,” said Elysee, who competed in the event for the first time. “There’s a lot more room for improvement, but I still have a lot of work to put in because I just started training in August. The competition was okay. I really enjoyed myself.”

And although she was in the top three, Stitch found herself running with the men as Diane Murray-Flowers was five spots behind in eighth place in 50.25.

“This was good. Jason (Maynard) gave me a run for my money, but it was very good motivation,” said Stitch, a history teacher at St Andrew’s. “He kept me motivated right to the very end. But I was happy to see that there was a five minute gap between me and the next person. So there is definitely strength for me to do even better in the future. The competition and the whole setting was very good. I hope to be back next year.”

Organisers have been quite impressed with what they saw, despite the economic challenge that the country is in.

“Over the last three weeks, had a good cross section of persons who registered,” said Charles Johnson, one of the race organisers. “We had a number of foreign persons who came in, but it was good to see how well the local runners participated. So look for us next year. We hope to be bigger and better. We will be working closely with the Ministry of Tourism to increase our prize money. Hopefully we can get some of the Kenyans in here to run.”