Tamica Thomas - PHOTO BY ANTHONY FOSTER
WAINARD TALBERT of Lion Heart Track Club and G.C. Foster College's Tamica Thomas were the senior winners at Sunday morning's Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association's (JAAA) Cross Country Run held at Kirkvine in Manchester.
In the junior sections, Kenoy Campbell and Manchester High's Natoya Goule came out on top.
Talbert who has dominated local distance races for the past three years, easily took the 8K event in 28 minutes and 39 seconds.
Talbert led from start to finish coming home almost a minute ahead of nearest rival Phillip Edwards of Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) who crossed the line in 29:36 and Shawn Pitter (29.41).
Andre Drummond of MVP Track Club (30:09) and Lion Heart Track Club's Gregory McKenzie (30:15) completed the top five.
TWO-TIME CHAMPION
Talbert and Edwards described their race as challenging.
"The race was difficult for the first part (2K)," Talbert explained. "At that point, the pressure was on, but my manager Alfred 'Franno' Francis had told me just to go out and do my best," said, the CAC Half Marathon champion.
In the senior women's 6K, Thomas finished in 27 minutes and 12 seconds. She defeated her schoolmate Maresia James (27.53) and Nadine Henry (28.14).
Two-time Reggae marathon champion Areita Martin, also of G.C. Foster College (29.55) finished fourth.
In the junior men 6K, Kenoy Campbell won the event in 22.14 ahead of Damion Bent (22.50), Bernard Powell (23.09), Dayne Bailey (23.22) and Sandre Ban (23.29).
Goule raced to an easy victory in the junior girls 4K clocking 17 minutes and 13 seconds ahead of her Manchester High team-mate Neisha Morgan (17:45), Judith Powell of St. Elizabeth Technical (17.46), Rosemarie Aldridge of Bellefield (18:09) and Shaneese Walters of Brown Town (18:51).
The second run will be held on February 12 at the same venue while NACAC Cross Country Championships is set for March 12 in Florida.
