May 1, 2009 — The focus this weekend on St. Croix is mostly on the Iron Man triathletes, but in Christiansted on Friday night it was all about young local runners and families.
Almost 70 youngsters participated in the 11th annual Children Run Christiansted footrace. Hundreds of parents, grandparents and friends cheered them on as they crossed the finish line near the Old Scale House on the green at Fort Christiansvaern.
Everyone seemed to have a smile on their face as the last tiny runner finished. The race was for children 13 and under and a few appeared no older than 3 or 4. A few had to get guidance from helpful parents to find the way to the finish.
One did not want to stop at all and continued running through the park, with a parent in hot pursuit.
The race is a 630 meter dash that began at Sunday Market Square with children racing down King Street to the fort.
Curtis Walker, a 13-year-old from Country Day School, won first place with a time of 1:27. Coming in second was Malique Smith, age 11 of the St. Croix Track Club (SCTC), with 1:27. Just two hundredths of a second separated first and second. Third place was Jahreim Luke, a 13 -year-old at St. Patrick's School, finishing at 1:34 and fourth place went to Rodney Griffin, age 10, a student at Eulalie Rivera Elementary School.
Jasmine Willock was the first female finisher, and her time was 1:39; Precious Wathley was second in 1:43; Othania Johannes of the St. Croix Track Club was third in 1:47.
In the under-10 age group, Mikaela Smith of the St. Croix Track Club was first runner in the group in 1:48; Annika Benders was the second girl in 1:53 and Stephanie Mathew of SCTC was third in 1:56.
Felix Denis of Church of God School was the first male under 10 in 1:48; Sevon Washington of the Hounds and Foxes Track Club was second in 1;52.
Walker in his second Children Run Race, said he was in pain since he didn't warm up enough before the start of the race.
"I feel good about winning," Walker said, as he grimaced. "I didn't expect to win."
Smith said it was his third time running the race and all his hard work has paid off with his second place win.
Luke said he felt like he could have done better and knew where he went wrong.
"I looked back a couple times and that slowed me down." said Luke. "I jogged at first then had to catch up."
The runners each got a certificate of participation and medals were awarded to the top runners. The race is organized by the V.I. Pace Runners and sanctioned by the V.I. Track and Field Federation. Complete results are available on virginislandspace.org.
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