CAY HILL--TRI SXM Academie was the winner of the 31st St. Maarten Day Relay Race which took place around the island yesterday.
A total of 36 teams started and completed the race which began and ended at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex. There was an increase in the number of teams from last year; from 29 to 36.
The race comprised of 11 legs around this 37 square miles island. The first leg was the longest leg. It stretched from the Raoul Illidge Sport Complex to Carrefour in Cole Bay for a total of 4.9km. The shortest distance was Leg 10 which started in Sucker Garden and ended at the old Paper Garden on Front Street for a total distance of 2.25 km.
TRI SXM Academie which placed fourth last year, won the race in 2 hours 24 minutes and 35econds. They defeated the second placed team, SX-TREME 1 by 2 minutes 35 seconds. While this year's winning team placed fourth last year, SX TREME 1 placed second last year too.
There were three Teen Teams and two Junior Teams.
Dynamic Sporting Club Coach Abdul Wattley was very proud of the two U14 teams he registered for the race. The two teams placed first and second in the Junior category. One of the teams was placed 11th overall in the race.
He told The Daily Herald " I usually use this event as a confidence builder for my athletes." The first Junior team clocked 2 hours 53 minutes and 3 seconds, while the second team's time was 3 hours 17 minutes and 18 seconds.
The positions for the teen teams were; first place, MPC Ice Pack, second place, Learning Unlimited (3:18:22) and third place, French Quarter Junior High School (3:23:32).
The results for the top ten teams were TRI SXM Academie, SX-TREME 1, Black and Gold Track Club (2:37:07), Dream of Trail (2:37:35), SXM Blue (2:44:37), TRI Sport (2:44:59), MPC Ice Pack (2:47:27), Akatsuki VKS Collaboration (2:50:02), Coast Guard Law Enforcement (2:50:03) and Cross Fit SXM (2:50:57). The team in the last position; If Only We Could Run, ... registered a time of 3:57:19.
Other categories which were recognized were the Remarkable Feet and Best Dressed Team. The Most Remarkable Feet team was Dream of Train and the Best Dressed team was Tri Sport Smiles (3:06:50).
Susan Maidwell, one of the organizers of the race said that most things went well yesterday, "all (went) very smoothly except for a hiccup in French Quarter when the authorities surprisingly closed off the road and forced many runners to take a long detour. (It was) beautiful weather after all the rain (Saturday night)."
Maidwell also told The Daily herald that the trophies were created from garbage collected by Marci Cooke. "Very cool." according to Maidwell.
