The BVI Half Marathon took place last Saturday. Eager runners were out of bed early to make the 6am start.
As the sun rose, the 40 enthusiastic competitors began the 13.1mile course from the Jolly Roger restaurant to town. The running pack quickly split with Zebalon McLean leading the fast paced charge, closely followed by Adam Wood (USVI) and Matt Ross, with Mark Downing and Jonno Elliot close behind. Dawn Peters led the female pack followed by Jessica Broderick and Rachel Johnson.
Runners pinned their heads down as they came past Fort Recovery into the strong winds. As the athletes powered against the elements Adam Wood pushed to the front while Dawn Peters maintained the lead in the women’s race.
As the runners approached the half way mark, Matt Ross took second position from Zebalon, with Downing and Elliot closing the gap. . As the weary runners came closer to town, feeling the pace and distance, Downing and Elliot took control of third position. In the women’s race Johnson outpaced Broderick and closed in on the heels of Peters.
Into town and Wood extended his lead over Ross and the rest of the pack. Johnson maintained her solid pace and seized control of the race from Peters. Broderick took advantage of a tiring Peters and stole second place.
Woods took the gold medal, finishing in a record first time place of 1:34:40. Ross finished in second (1:37:58) and Downing took third place (1:40:52) as Elliot lost his pace in the last mile.
Johnson extended her lead in the last few miles to win the women’s race in 1:52:23. Peters tactically stayed with Broderick for the remaining distance and then pounced in the last few moments of the race to grab second place (1:54:54) with Broderick third (1:55:11).
The next major TRIBVI TSC event is the TSC Triathlon – Corporate Challenge in the New Year.