One day after the event, Delvon Clarke was willing to admit that when he made his first forced stop during the 2016 Independence 10 k run, held on Thursday 15th September, he does not have a clue what transpired after that.
He is not aware that he shortly thereafter made a second forced stop.
He is not aware that Tonito Willet, his longtime buddy, came to his assistance and he is not aware that he told Tonito to ‘ley me go.’
He is not even aware that when he crossed the finish line, well ahead of his two greatest challengers on the day, that he raised his hands triumphantly in the air and looked to the heavens.
‘I was running on cruise control and God was with me,’ says the youthful Seventh day Adventist.
“I remember focusing on the passage of scripture which says ‘They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint….’ And I also had it in my mind when I was in control of myself, that when I got to the finish line, I would raise my hand to the heavens and thank God but I did not know that I actually did it,” he said.
The race started just in front of the Nevis Tourism Authority building in Charlestown and the runners headed down the wrong way on Main Street, ably assisted by the Police and headed via the main road to the bottom of Cotton Ground and returned to the same place where the race started.
Delvon exchanged places for the top three spots, with two Kittitian athletes who gave him quite a challenge, up until they got to the Four Seasons Resort, on the return leg.
That is when he pulled away from the pack. He made one crucial error though, he ran most of the way and refused to drink a drop of water, despite the intense heat, until his first forced stop when he got just a little bit to drink from Fabian Cranston, who was riding alongside him on a bike.
On crossing the finish line, he was rushed to the Alexandra Hospital, where he was hooked up to be revived with fluids, until he was fully recovered.
Meanwhile, the 3k run, which featured youngsters under the age of 13, running from the starting point to the TDC building at Pinney’s and return, was also very exciting and saw two athletes from the EPPS, sprinting towards the finish line, much to the pleasure of the sizeable crowd on hand.
Some 117 athletes registered for the event, with 105 from Nevis and 12 from St. Kitts.
These included 75 males and 42 females.
The top placements in the event were:
Females-over 18
1st Vanessa Williams-Nevis
2nd Keressa Eddy-St. Kitts
3rd Cileen Hendrickson
Males –over 18
1st Delvon Clarke-Nevis
2nd O’Brian Huggins-St. Kitts
3rd Leron Ponteen –St. Kitts
Under 13 females
1st Tiana Liburd-Nevis
2nd Eden Howell-Nevis
3rd Aniela Fyfield –Nevis
Under 13 males
1st – Romario Morgan-Nevis
2nd Miguel Campbell-Nevis
3rd Trevon Dunrod –Nevis
Trophies and cash prizes were given to the top three winners in each age category, except in the case of the school children, as the cheques will be presented to their various schools.