Pamenos stars at Manny Ramjohn Games

Pamenos Ballantyne of St Vincent and the Grenadines  recorded a unique double but more importantly copped the top award for his victory in the feature 5,000-metre race at the inaugural Manny Ramjohn Memorial Invitational Games on Friday.

The 35-event progamme brought together athletes from neighbouring Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines in the track programme staged under floodlights at the stadium at Marabella named after the TT running star. Racing before a very small crowd, Ballantyne won the 1,500 metres in three min. 54.85 sec. He outpaced Palo Seco’s Jules LaRode (4: 00.23) and Simplex’s Kern Ramdin (4: 04.34). And without the threat and opposition of TT’s US-based Ronnie Hollasie, who was billed as the star attraction and who did not show up, Ballantyne strode unchallenged in the curtain-event —- the 5,000 metres, which he covered in 15 min. 07.26 secs.

NFM’s Cantius Thomas was the only competitor who was not lapped by the 2003 Clico TT marathon champion who continued his dominance of middle and long distance races in the Caribbean. Thomas was timed at 15 min. 41.42 sec and trailed the new Games winner by about 130 metres. In his fluent relaxed style, Ballantyne overtook four runners with five laps remaining of the twelve-and-a-half laps race. And with each succeeding lap he lapped twelve other runners but could not track the determined Thomas. Antigua’s Janil Williams recorded a double in the ladies middle-distance double. She won the 1,500 metres in four min. 36.81 secs and 800 in 2 min. 14.28 secs.

However, the heroine of the night was Guyana’s 14-year-old Jennifer Chichester, who despite niggling injury to her left ankle which was sustained in the 1,500-metre event, ran a smart race and shrugged off US-born TT-based Katie Ryan in the feature 3,000 metre women open race. The bare-footed Chichester held the inside and carried the race after two laps. The pint-sized damsel made her move on her taller American opponent with 300 metres to go. She pulled away and sprinted into the final curve ahead of her long-striding rival. As they turned into the straightaway for the finishing tape, Ryan challenged the diminutive Dolphin Secondary school (Georgetown) student but she found enough reserve to once again speed to the finish as everyone in the appreciative crowd rose to their feet to acknowledge a rising star.

Chichester placed second to Williams in the 1,500 metres in a time of 4: 40.88 secs. She will be flying Guyana colours at the Carifta Games scheduled for the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo over the Easter weekend. Antigua’s Olympian Heather Samuel registered the sprint double among the unheralded women opposition. She was like a “giant” among pygmies” and clocked 11.22 secs in the 100 metres dash and 23.46 secs for the 200-metre trip. Guyana’s Adrian Blackman won the men’s 100 metres in 10.18 secs ahead of Antigua’s Daniel Bailey (10.21) with the positions reversed in the half lap event.