Nicholas Romany of Trinidad and Tobago has sent a warning to his competitors that it wouldn’t be easy running for them in the 40th Run Barbados Marathon.

When the weekend got off to a running start with the PwC Fun Mile at the Garrison Savannah on Friday night, the 29-year-old was not in the lead pack of runners at the start due to the sheer size of the starting pack of 678 runners, but took charge after about 500 yards, and ran solo without any challenge, to breast the tape at the finish line in 4 minutes 38 seconds.

Rick Williams of Barbados came in second in a time of 4 minutes 46 seconds, while defending champion of the Run Barbados men’s marathon, Alex Ekesa of Kenya, was third in 4 minutes 48 seconds, to round off the top three finishers in the Open Male category.

Romany pointed out in a post-race interview that it was his first time competing in Barbados, although he has been racing for seven years. He is pleased with his form to date, and enjoyed the race throughout.

Ashlyn Simmons with a time of 5 minutes 56 seconds was the winner in the Female Open category, followed in second place by Jalene Cruz in 6 minutes 02 seconds, and Carlie Robinson, third in a time of 6 minutes 06 seconds.

The serious competition takes place today and tomorrow; the venue being Barclay’s Park in St. Andrew.

Today, Saturday December 09,  will see the running of the Casuarina 10k, one of the oldest races in the Caribbean, and the popular Sleeping Giant 5k race.

Then to round off the weekend, runners will pound the various race routes tomorrow in the Joe’s River 5k Walk, the Farley Hill Marathon, and the Sand Dunes half-marathon. (Robertson S. Henry)