The heavy rain and blustery conditions did not deter a host of runners from turning out for the Radio Breeze ‘fun’ run on Saturday.
It wasn’t much pleasure for many participants but they endured the conditions to support the ‘Breeze Fusion’ race which was supporting two local charities, Matt Safe and the National Council of Voluntary Organisations Telethon.
Matthew Thompson died tragically, aged 17, in a car crash in 2002 and his mother Patricia Ebanks started the Matt Safe charity in his memory and also to improve safety on the road. Matt was a keen sprinter. She presented the prizes after.
The two-mile course started from the John Gray High School and finished in the big loop up Walkers Road, along South Sound and finally onto the Denham Thompson Way.
Many were preparing for longer, more arduous events, like the Turtle Tri on November 22 and the Cayman Marathon on December 7.
Winner Steve Speirs is a displaced Welshman. Originally from Cardiff, the web designer now lives in Virginia Beach in the States. A seasoned runner, he runs every day and his next marathon is in Richmond, Virginia next week.
He ran this course in 11 minutes 20 seconds.
‘One day, I’ll definitely come back to do the Cayman Marathon,’ he said. ‘I’m here on vacation for four or five days and when I came in yesterday noticed that this race was on so decided to go for it.
‘But when I woke up this morning it was so windy and rainy I didn’t know if they would do the race.’
Second runner home was Beth Schreader who despite the conditions managed a personal best. ‘I did 11 minutes 59 seconds which is the first time I’ve ever broken 12 minutes, so it’s a good day.
‘This time of year there’s a race every weekend, the triathlon is coming up and, of course, the marathon which I’ve been training hard for.
‘I did 18 miles yesterday from Governor’s Harbour along West Bay Road all the way to Hurley’s roundabout and back.’
Chris Burke was third in 12:32. Not a regular competitor, he claims to train hard in the week and only shows up on occasion.
‘I’m Cayman based and it’s a great place to run,’ he said. ‘I’m training for the half marathon, it will be my first time running that distance and I’m looking forward to it.’
Burke’s Cayman Marathon will be with girlfriend Eugenie, who finished ninth on Saturday. Both are aiming to do their legs in around 1 hour 45 minutes.’ She said: ‘This was my first speed run in Cayman and it was great.’
Little Ryan Kirkaldy, nine, was the fastest boy. Roger Davies may be 63, but he is still very fit and competitive. He was tenth in this race. Police officer Fitzroy Simpson finished 38th and was pleased with his time of 19:30.
Cable & Wireless (now Lime) exec Ken Guiste dedicated his run to the memory of former colleague Estella Scott-Roberts.
Simpson said: ‘That wasn’t too bad. I’ll continue doing more road races to stay healthy and also to improve my stamina and endurance.’ Maybe he’ll be able to chase after criminals faster too!
Cheryl Thompson was one of the organisers along with Makana Scott, Paulette Conolly-Bailey, Jay Ehrart, Kathy Miller, Nikolai Hill and Paul ‘Spike’ Dedrick.
Thompson said: ‘We’re really pleased with the turn out. They did quite well considering the conditions. We’re pleased that people came out to support the event. They were primarily runners as opposed to walkers.
‘Considering the rain was pouring down throughout the entire time, we’re happy that they managed to make good times. We’re also pleased that people were able to recover from Halloween night and come out and support us this morning.
‘This was for the benefit of the NCVO and Matt Safe so we’ve accomplished our goal to help two beneficiaries this year.’
Patricia Ebanks said: ‘I think this race is wonderful. I’m especially pleased with the number of young people who have come out because there’s no sport really like athletics to bring out the focus to your life.
‘For Matt it was a major part of his life. He decided at 14 years old he was going to specialise and he was a national athlete. It had taken him to a lot of Caribbean islands and to the US, so he had a lot of potential.
‘I founded this organisation because I was a parent who was right in the middle of it and wanted to do something about it.
‘One thing we’ve been able to do is to change the legislation to produce graduated licensing and that’s played a big role in raising public awareness and helped parents to become more involved in their driving and the government has supported them in this role.
‘I’m looking forward to graduated licensing’s full implementation. I think it will make a major difference. It will force parents to change their attitude that because their children are growing up and they need to let their apron strings go but driving is one area that they need to stay involved in their children’s lives.’
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