A pair of British visitors, Christopher Thompson and Dan Nash, won their respective full and half races of the 2022 Walkers Cayman Islands Marathon on Sunday, 4 Dec.
A combined total of 893 competitors took part in the full, half, and four-person relay marathons.
In a field of 68 participants in the full marathon, British Olympian Thompson led the pack, finishing first with a time of 2:33:02.
“Running is a very personal battle of pushing my body as far as I can,” Thompson told the Cayman Compass after his 26.2-mile run.
Thompson set the half-marathon record back in 2019 at 1:07:47. His marathon time this year topped Justin Grunewald’s record of 2:36:23 set in 2011, making Thompson the record holder for both the half and full marathon in the Cayman mega event.
“That comes from setting high-end challenges,” he said. “I’ve pushed myself and I’ve learned a lot about myself today, and I’m going to go away and use that to do other good things.”
Nash, from Wales, who travelled with Thompson, claimed the half marathon, ahead of more than 700 runners.
Nash clocked in at 1:17:08.
He told the Compass that he kept pace with Thompson, helping to secure victory in the half marathon.
“I was happy to call it a day after 13 miles. We had to start off slow so that we didn’t suffer on the back end of the race… because we weren’t acclimatised.”
Crossing the line first for the women in the half marathon, was Cayman resident Michelle Vinton, finishing at 1:33:16.
For the full marathon, American Mandie Samuels won in a time of 3:32:15. Samuels, who also faced difficulties adjusting to the climate, told the Compass that it was her first time running competitively in Cayman.
She said while she won, it wasn’t her best performance, but she was pleased regardless.
“I just wanted to stay really comfortable because I know that it’s hot and humid and it’s not what I’m used to,” Samuels said. “I have never done this one before, but this is my 52nd marathon. It’s definitely not my fastest time (her personal best is 3:12:28) but… I’m very happy.”
She noted that the weather played a factor in her run. “The course was wonderful,” Samuels said.
“Everybody was so wonderful. I’m from the midwest in the United States and its about zero Fahrenheit right now, so it was tough, but the water stations were great.”
Behind Samuels in second place was local resident Oddy Grullon, who was on a mission to raise funds for the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre by running four consecutive marathons, beginning in September.
Like Grullon, there were several runners taking part with goals outside of being competitive.
The Compass wrapped up its ‘Why we run’ series last week where people shared personal stories about how training for the marathon has helped with overcoming certain difficulties.
Runners like Cayman’s Daniel and wife Brooke Fitzgerald finished the half marathon to raise awareness about spinal muscular atrophy, a medical condition that their child Violet was born with.
Marathon results (men, women)
1st Christopher Thompson, Mandie Samuels
2nd Christian Henning, Oddy Grullon
3rd Yusheng Ni, Heather Francis
Half marathon (men, women)
1st Dan Nash, Michelle Vinton
2nd Esmond Brown, Caitlin Murdock
3rd Tim Howard, Elaine Anderson
Four-person relay winners by category
Walkers Running (Corporate)
NEED FOR SPEED (Male Relay)
Cayman Wine School (Mixed Relay)
F45 Cayman Ladies (Female Relay)
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