New champions were crowned in the fifth annual UWI Sport and Physical Education Centre (SPEC) International Half-Marathon presented by First Citizens yesterday morning.

Nicholas Kiprono of Uganda and Guyana’s Alika Morgan were the male and female winners, respectively, of the 2008 event. The course started from the North UWI entrance in St Augustine, proceeded east along the Priority Bus Route up to La Resource, D’Abadie, and hooked back west for a distance of 13.1 miles.

Kiprono crossed the finish line in one hour, five minutes and 35.7 seconds to easily out-pace the field.

The race, sanctioned by the National Amateur Athletics Association of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAA), as well as the International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF), did not see Kiprono eclipsing Kenyan Ernest Kimeli’s 2006 mark of 1:05.06.09.

Second was Guyana’s Cleveland Forde (1:08.22.7), followed by St Vincent’s top distance runner Pamenos Ballantyne (1:08.53.3).

Rounding out the top five were Zephinus Joseph of St Lucia (1:09.16.5) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Jones (1:09.26.8). Simon Sawe of Kenya was sixth (1:11.07.6).

Among the women, last year’s winner, Trinidad and Tobago’s Shermi Lasaldo, was seond to champion Morgan (1:27.03.8 to 1:27:46.8).

Tanice Barnett placed third (1:28.51.8), with Christine Regis of Couva fourth in 1:31.17.9 and Sangre Grande’s Leisl Puckerin fifth (1:37:59.7).

More than 600 runners dashed off at the start of the event, which was sponsored to the tune of $350,000, all of that sum coming from First Citizens. The race, which was also sponsored by the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SPORTT) and Blue Waters, offered more than $125,000 in cash prizes to participants.

This year, the UWI SPEC International Half-Marathon embarked on a ’Green’ Campaign, with professor John Agard of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).

Teams were organised to collect and recycle the 25,000 plastic water bottles that were discarded by athletes during the race.