“It was a little bit cooler today so I was hoping to use that to my advantage to go a little quicker, but then I was also a bit more respectful of the hill than last week,” Riley noted. “So I actually started out a little bit slower to end up quicker and being more respectful of the hill, managed to get to get to the turnaround a bit slower than last week and then managed to come back a bit on the faster side—four seconds faster than last time—so who knows if it’s the actual change in pace for the difference.”

Julaine Potgieter, the top Woman in 13:49, said it was a nice race and the weather was perfect.

“It was a lot harder than I remembered. I haven’t done it in something like three years, to the hill is a beast. It is really hard in the end, but my aim was to beat my son (Sam) and I did. He was ahead of me so he was a good pacemaker.”

Sam’s response? “I know she had no chance,” said Sam who ran 14:17. “But after the race, I was out of breath and really tired.”

Coach Dale Joseph brought six participants from St. Thomas.

“We decided we’d come over to the annual college 2 miler because it will be a good test for to so see where we stand at this particular point,” Jones said, nothing that Orin Stapleton, ninth overall in 13:19, was their top finished. “Our practices have been going fairly steady and we’re looking for more improvement as we go along. This first race is a good test to see where they are right now.”

Nicola Fraser one of the two female runners said it was a good race after finishing in 21:30.

“When I was going up I was actually asking myself what am I doing,” she said. “Coming back down it was pretty good and my teammates cheered me on which pumped me up. When I was finishing, there was a little girl about almost eight years old and I was like ‘oh no, I’m not gonna race this girl to the end’ but, she stopped to tie her shoelace then tried to catch me but I got there before her.”

The Rotary Club of Tortola continued its splendid Service Clubs run, but its top woman—Stacy-Anny Wynter—was beaten, while Reuben Stoby’s 12:14.44 eclipsed the course record.

“It was really hard for me and I think I burned around the corner. I have no idea what happened today but next time, I’m going to bring my A game, and see what comes,” she said. “There’s a Roatractor who beat me today. I’m coming back for you.”