NATIONAL cross-country runners Kirk Brown, Danielle James, Shawn Pitter and Juliette Dinnal produced impressive performances at the second staging of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourism Association (JHTA)/Kingston Chapter Kingston City Run (KCR) Half Marathon and 5K Walk/Run in Kingston yesterday.

Brown ran a superb and timely race in the male’s half marathon, winning in a blistering time of 1:12:23 minutes and was the overall winner ahead of Rupert Green (1:12:33) and Collin Graham (1:25:40).

“For me the race was challenging, I was never prepared for it, but I came out today and said that I want to put out some mileage. Even though my legs are sore I am happy with the win,” Brown told the Jamaica Observer.

James, who was running for the first time, was the overall winner in the female section in a time of 1:30:15 minutes, barely edging out Arieta Martin (1:30:32) and Janetta Robinson (1:43:27) in third.

“The race was rough and challenging for me due to the fact that we took a wrong turn. But overall I enjoyed myself and the win was good,” James said.

Pitter, who easily won in the male’s 5K Run in a time of 17:15 minutes, was the overall winner ahead of Dwayne Graham (17:29) and Zavion DaCosta (18:20).

“The race was nice, I never thought about winning (I) just came out to run. I am still recovering from that last run at the Sigma, but I am happy with the win here,” he said.

In the female section, Dinnal was a comfortably winner in 23:24 minutes ahead of Karlene Blagrove (24:21) and Heather Skyes-Facey (25:16)

“The race was good, there wasn’t any challenge for me. And even though I wasn’t feeling well the routine was straight forward,” she noted.

In the male’s 5K walk, Andre Smith (29:24) won ahead of Maxwell Smith (34:38) (no relation) and Kenardo Phillips (34:47). In the female section, Nyasha Heaven took the event in 35:45 minutes ahead of Michelle Grant (36:08) and Paula Sinclair (36:36).

ScotiaBank was voted Largest Corporate Group, while the Largest Run For Charity went to Food for the Poor.

Nicola Madden-Greige, chairman for KCR, said that the event was a success and thanked everyone that came on board.

“This year the run was very successful, we got near 2,400 runners participating, including corporate teams and individuals from Jamaica, China, Trinidad, Canada and the United States.

“I am happy with the nature of the run (as) they ran through the Zoo which was a new route this year, Devon House and Kings House just to name a few. But overall it was a great run and I thank all sponsors and everyone that participated in making this a wonderful year,” the chairman said.

Mayor of Kingston, Angela Brown Burke, who took part, said she was pleased with the turn out.

“This is about a cause and I am pleased and happy with how things has turned out, it is about helping Jamaica on a whole. Thank everybody for coming out and next year bring a friend,” the mayor urged.

The proceeds from the charity event will be shared among Marie Atkins Night Shelter, Food for the Poor, Open Arms Drop-in Centre, Missionaries of the Poor and Alpha Boys School.