Haynes glitters for Neon Trackers

Kevin Haynes of Neon Trackers was the only athlete to win three individual gold medals at the inaugural Manny Ramjohn Memorial Invitational Games on Friday.

Racing among the juniors (Under 13), Haynes completely dominated his rivals as he won the triple in the 100, 200 and 400 metres at the Marabella stadium named after former top TT runner Manny Ramjohn. He clocked 13.13 and outsped VOS Government’s Aaron Samuel (13.26 secs) and Noen Trackers’ Edwin Simon (13.38) in the Boys Under-13 100-metre dash. Haynes returned to the prize rostrum for more “golds” as he won the 400 metres in one min. 1.84 seconds and the 200 metres in 26.62 seconds. In the one-lap race, he outdistanced Curwin Williams of VOS Government (1.04:05 sec) and his own clubmate Edwin Simon (1: 07.84) while he took care of VOS’s Aaron Samuel (27.14 secs) and Neon Trackers’ Edwin Simon (28.83) in the metric furlong (half-lap) event.

VOS Government’s Onika Murray was also in impressive form as she whipped her rivals to score the double among the Under-13 girls. Coached by Gunness Persad, Murray won the 100 metres in 14.02 secs and the 200 metres in 29.58 secs. Junior Jones of Neon Trackers also did the double among the Boys Under-15. He won the 100 metres in 11.32 and the 400-metre race in 54.07. He, however, had to settle for second spot in the 200 metres to the fast finishing Joel Romain who prevailed in 22.74. Jones clocked 23.89. Sharane Simon of Petro P-a-P took the double in the Girls Under-13 100 metres (13.13 secs) and 200 metres (27.36 secs). In both events, she led home Deandra Daniel (13.74 and 28.44) and Nakita LaRode (14.05 and 28.99 secs).

Among the seniors, St Vincent’s Pamenos Ballantyne was the star performer in the 1,500 and 5,000 metres races, winning both easily and collected the Mannie Ramjohn Memorial Trophy for his victory in the 12-and-half-laps race, which was timed at 15 min. 07.26 secs. Tigers’ Kerry Richardson won the 800 metres for men with a time of one min. 55.84 secs. He finished ahead of Defence Force’s Leon Hazzard (1: 57.02) and Janille Nelson (1: 58.38). Antigua’s Heather Samuel took the women’s sprint double while her established compatriot Janil Williams proved too much for her rivals in the 800 and 1500 metres. Guyana’s Andre Blackman won the premier 100 metres dash in 10.18 secs ahead of Antigua’s Daniel Bailey (10.21 secs) who was surprisingly awarded the 200 metres ahead of Blackman in a very tight finish. Bailey clocked 20.95 secs to Blackman’s 21.10 secs.

Guyana’s 14-year-old Jennifer Chichester made her mark by winning the feature 3,000 metres (10 min. 26.38 secs) from United States’ Katie Ryan (10:27.23)  and Antigua’s Tamika Butler (11: 05.53). She had earlier placed second to Carifta’s middle-distance champion Williams in the 1,500 metres and injured her left ankle running bare-footed. But she shrugged off the ill-effects and produced a hair-rising finish in the 3,000 metres and won herself many admirers among the athletics fraternity.