Photo by Adrian Frater
Andrew Gutzmore celebrates his Reggae Marathon victory in Negril yesterday.

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

JAMAICA'S ANDREW Gutzmore and Guyana-born United States-based Euleen Josiah-Tanne emerged the toast of yesterday's sixth renewal of the Reggae Marathon in Negril when they ran away with the male and female categories, respectively.

The 40-year-old Gutzmore, a national Central American and Caribbean (CAC) and Common-wealth representative, took the Bob Marley Trophy and a $75,000 cash prize after topping the field in a time of 2:45:00. Fellow Jamaican Colin Graham (3:05:07) and Ralph Klein 3:06:0) of the United States took second and third places, respectively.

Josiah-Tanne, a seasoned marathon runner based in Atlanta, took the Rita Marley Trophy ahead of Americans Terri Rejibal and Carla Arnold in a time of 3:14:03. She also pocketed $75,000 for her winning effort.

No difficulty

"The competition was not all that strong, so I would not say it was a difficult marathon for me," said Gutzmore, in assessing his performance. "I tried to use some of the things I learned from the CAC and Commonwealth Games and it worked for me."

In assessing her performance, Josiah-Tanne said she would have liked to have done a better time but, whereas the competition was not all that stiff for her, she found the early-morning sun most challenging.

"I wanted to go faster, but the sun was very hot," said Josiah-Tanne. "Once I found that the heat was bothering me, I slowed down to maintain my composure."

Exciting

In the half-marathon, which was equally exciting, Jamaicans dominated, winning the male and female sections through Wainald Talbelt, who clocked 1:10:31; and G.C. Foster athlete Tamica Thomas, who clocked 1:28:20 in beating fellow Jamaicans Rosemarie Aldridge (1:30:06) and Shelly Ann-Codner (1:31:06).

Talbelt, who led home South Africa's Tobias Phillander (1:10:50) and fellow Jamaican Gregory McKenzie (1:11:19), pocketed $31,000 for his effort. Thomas ran a measured race and was quite strong in the end.

The event, which was the biggest in terms of competitors in the annals of the marathon, saw more than 680 competitors starting the race. For meet director Alfred Francis it was a complete success.

"It was an excellent event and as the organisers we are extremely pleased," said Francis. "In terms of organisation and delivery, we were spot on and I was particularly pleased by the fact that so many people came thinking they had a realistic chance of winning," he said.