By:Curtis Morton
Orian Stapleton shook off a late challenge from Shirmon Caines, as he got a belated alert that Caines was right on his heels and pulled out the choke and rushed up the Charlestown Secondary school’s road to hit the tape in first place.
It was a historic day for the Charlestown Secondary School, as it hosted a mega sporting activity. One which not only attracted the entire school population, but a host of persons across the island, some of whom had taken off time from work to witness it.
It was the first ever Teachers’ cross country race and most of the teachers participated with much zeal and enthusiasm on Wednesday 8th February.
The costumes also came out, which enhanced the carnival like atmosphere and the warm ups in and of themselves, were an entertainment package to behold.
When headmaster Edson Elliot joined his staff at the starting line, the students went wild. He then took a few warm up runs and then got into some aerobics, much to the delight of the huge crowd.
Finally they were off.
Orian Stapleton and Joshua Browne pushed out early and ran away from the pack as they raced down the school’s road and entered into Bath Road.
They made the left turn at the roundabout in Bath Village and headed up the incline and past the historic Bath hotel. As Orian Stapleton pulled away from Joshua Browne, suddenly Shirmon Caines appeared in the frame.
It was obvious that the race was well and truly on.
He stayed close to Stapleton as they headed past the former Caribbean Cove; got past Island Tyres and more and as they got close to Reliable Motors, Caines made his move.
However, as he got set to get past Stapleton, as they headed up the school’s drive, somebody warned Stapleton that he was right on his heels and with a herculean effort, Stapleton pulled out the choke and left Caines in the dust.
What a finish!
The top eight placers were as follows:
1st Orian Stapleton
2. Shirmon Caines
3rd Joshua Browne
4th Nicola Parris
5th Kareem Grant
6th Merville Nisbett
7th Garfield Virgo
8th Kirmani Webbe
In a post-race interview, Headmaster Elliot was adamant that he had come first.
‘I got first in the over forty category,’ he declared.
The next big event for the school, will be the cross country relay, scheduled for this coming Friday, 10th of February.