MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — The organisers of the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run are hoping to twin next year’s 10th anniversary of the race with the 40th anniversary of the granting of city status to Montego Bay.

Janet Silvera, founder of the event and chairperson of the organising committee, said she plans to approach the St James Municipality with the idea as they sought to take the event to another level.

“It will be our 10th anniversary next year and the fact that the city of Montego Bay will be celebrating its 40th year as a city we will be trying to join both celebrations,” she told the
Jamaica Observer after Sunday’s race through the streets of Montego Bay.

“We plan to market the Jill Stewart race overseas, trying to get people to come home around that time and we will be approaching the municipality to see if we can get both to work,” she said.

The event, which usually starts and finishes at the Old Hospital Park, was shifted this year to Harmony Beach Park.

Silvera described the move as “a game-changer”.

The races started along Jimmy Cliff Boulevard, heading towards Freeport and back to Harmony Park, finishing inside the facility.

“This is a win-win for us, it is ideal, it offers so much more, its not only bigger but it is an attraction, it has a beach and it takes us off the road and we have better parking,” Silvera said.

She said the event, which has a 5K and 10K races for both genders as well as a 5K race walk, was over-subscribed.

“We targeted 6,000 [participants] but we had people coming in up to Saturday. We had over 7,000 eventually and we had to get bibs from our partner Running Events as we ran out.”

Kamar Thomas, a Jamaican who works at Sandals Royal Antigua, won the men’s 10K in his first attempt, running 33:38 minutes. He narrowly defeated last year’s winner Kemar Leslie of Rainforest, who ran 33:45, with his teammate Marvin Hamilton taking third with 36:37.

Thomas, who was third in the Jamaica Half Marathon in December, told the
Jamaica Observer he was happy to have run under 34 minutes.

“This course is amazing and the competition was good; I was pushed all the way,” he said.

Tonya Busse of Pacers Running Club won the women’s 10K in 45:04 minutes, beating Lesa Powell (54:58) and Sheila Pinto (56:24).

Garfield Gordon, who won the MoBay Night Run on April 5, won the men’s 5K race in 15:34 minutes, beating Brandon Kerr (17:17) and Carl Whyte (18:08).

Jodian Walker of Rainforest Seafood was the women’s 5K winner, running 23.04, ahead of Shania Fraser (25:23) and Candice Griffiths (26:15).

Duwell Allen won the men’s 5K walk race in 26:26 minutes, beating Isaac Edwards (26:28) and Trishell Ramsay (26:29).

The women’s 5K race was won by Michana Small in 30:29 minutes, while Paula Sinclair was second with 32:01 and Dishan Greyion third with 32:27.

— Paul A Reid

Garfield Gordon, the 5K male winner in 15 .34 minutes.Photo: Joseph Wellington