LION HEART Track Club's Wainard Talbert was again accused of using unfair tactics while competing in Sunday's Ministry of Health (MOH) 5K, the third and penultimate race of the 'Jamdammers No Violence One Love Grand Prix Series', which started and ended at Emancipation Park.
Talbert, who was pushed to the finish for the first time this season, won the event in 15 minutes, 46.3 seconds ahead of Sean Pitter (15:46.9) and Rupert Green (16.26.2).
Pitter was happy with his performance, but not the outcome.
"I came here to win the race but at the finishing (towards the end) I got some bad run (by Talbert)," Pitter said.
Both runners came into the final 100m locked tight, but Pitter lost the final drive for the line and was passed by Talbert.
Pitter blamed Talbert's tactics for his defeat.
"I was forced to run wide, even outside of the cones coming toward the finish line ... I had to use up a lot of extra energy, so basically that was a nasty run there," he said.
BAD RUN
"In his defence, Talbert said Pitter was the one running 'bad'. "Why I was forcing Pitter to run wide is because he was bouncing on my feet," Talbert said.
"If he (Pitter) want to beat me, he must just run past me and stop bouncing my feet," he said. At the recent Upliftment 5K held in St. Thomas, Talbert was accused by Rupert Green of pushing him towards the end of the race.
Meanwhile, Natoya Goule of Manchester High, like Talbert, stretched her winning streak to three from three races in the series, which ends on Sunday with the Burger King 10K in Portmore.
Goule (19:15.7) beat Areita Martin (19:31.5) and Stacy-Ann Bell of Vere (19:35.1).
Goule said she came under a little pressure from Martin, "but that did not stop me from running".
"It was a challenging race, because I had to run hard to maintain my winning streak," she said.
In the High School section, Vere defeated Edwin Allen and Holmwood for the girls' title, while Bellefield beat Holmwood and Edwin Allen for the boys' crown.
