Creese welcomes back Chatoyer Endurance 10K road race

Former war horse on the Vincentian roads during the 1980s and 1990s Tyrone Creese welcomes the return of the Chatoyer Endurance 10K Road Race to the local road racing calendar.{{more}}

Creese, who was a regular participant in the gruelling race during the 1990s, told SEARCHLIGHT that he is glad to see the race back on the agenda, noting, “It was one of the events that I really looked forward to.”

He, however, claimed that it is an event for which athletes have to train and condition themselves properly, as “it is a tough race.”

Known as “Beast Creese” for his enduring stamina, Creese recalled that he, along with Kerwin Morris and Dane Samuel, did the course several times during the lead-up to the main event.

While never topping the race, Creese reminisced on having not only to battle the hilly terrain, but the likes of Trinidadians — Moses Ranghell and Bernard Mungroo, Jamaican — Linton Mc Kenzie, along with Claude Noeille, among other regional competitors.

He jokingly stated that he wished that he had some more time, otherwise he would have made a return to competition.

According to a release from Team Athletics SVG: “The world’s most challenging 10K” will be reintroduced on the afternoon of Sunday, October 25, 2015, beginning at 3 p.m…. The race starts at Peniston on the Leeward side of the island of St Vincent and ends at historic Fort Charlotte, one of the outstanding heritage sites in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“TASVG considers that this event, which is now being reintroduced after a lapse of several years, can become a major sport-tourism classic enhancing the stature of distance running in particular and of the sport of athletics in general, in this country and the wider regional and international sports arena,” the release added.

According to TASVG, “The NACAC OECS Chatoyer Endurance10K Road Race is being billed as the world’s most challenging road race event…We believe that this can become something of a permanent fixture on the annual international road-racing calendar and serve as a major attraction to athletes from around the world.”

To be part of the event, locals can register with any member of the executive of TASVG or at the Olympic House, Kingstown Park, Kingstown, with a completed registration form and the registration fee; for international athletes, through TASVG at vin@mf.iaaf.org, office@svgnoc.org or svgnoc@vincysurf.com.

Registration deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, October 16, and TASVG is warning that, “No athlete under the age of 16 years will be allowed to participate in the event.”

The top three athletes (male and female) in each category will receive cash prizes.

The top places in the international category get US$1,000, $700 and $500, respectively, while in the open, it will be $600, $300 and $200, in that order.

Meanwhile, the first place among the secondary school entrants gets $400; second place – $200 and third place – $150.(RT)