CariFin UWI Half & Run Barbados Report

Budd makes it three in a row and newcomer Nelinho Mierez prevails among the men!

Nicole Budd
Nicole Budd ( a former 2 time CariFin cross country winner) ran her fastest time in UWI SPEC's Half Marathon this year, making it three times in a row. She set the best time in the CariFin Team in Training for UWI SPEC Half Marathon among the females In 2008 she did 1.46 2009 she improved further with 1.43 and this year she posted 1.41. Newcomer, Nelinho Mierez, clinched first spot among the men with 1:28.

The 7^th edition of UWI SPEC Half Marathon took place on Sunday October 31, 2010. The race started in front of UWI SPEC's building, going North onto the Priority Bus route then East to the La Resource turnaround. Going back to the starting point completes the 13.1 miles.

A rainy morning greeted the 6.00 am start of the race and never let up; it just changed in intensity along the way Some people liked it, for some it was a little too much. Water began to. soak into shoes and cold muscles began to cramp.

This is the fourth year CariFin Team in Training year participated

Nelinho Mierez

as a team in the UWI SPEC Half Marathon. We have consistently entered a team of 100 or more runners in this event. Our main sponsors, Nature Valley, have made our participation possible over the years.

"I would really like to experience going below the 1:40 mark," is one of the things Nicole Budd said she would love to do after the race. Her desire to go faster and faster in this event is clearly expressed.

"It was my first half marathon... it was difficult but at the end I felt good completing the distance." This is how Nelinho Mierez describes his UWI SPEC Half experience. Mierez grow up in San Fernando and did most of his running in and around the city. Running the San Fernando hills is a favorite pasttime of his.

The biggest level of improvement came from Ingrid Lambkin-Keshwar and Luke John-Baptiste.
In 2009, Ingrid ran 2:53:19 for the distance. This year she eclipsed that mark by a whopping 36:48 minutes, finishing the race in 02:16:31.
Luke John-Baptiste had an 18:18 minutes improvement based on doing 2.58:28 last year and running much faster this year, completing the race in 2.10:40. Not to be outdone is Hakeem Beswick. He improved by 18:17 minures. This 16- year- old ran 1.56.06 last year down to 1.37:49 this year, grabbing third spot among the men .