Clay­ton Clarke

Olympic fi­nal­ist Je­hue Gor­don sped to vic­to­ry in the men's 400m hur­dles on the first day of com­pe­ti­tion of the 12th an­nu­al Fal­cons Games at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo on Sat­ur­day. Gor­don (Mem­phis) crossed the line in 49.65 to fin­ish well ahead of Puer­to Ri­can Er­ic Ale­jan­dro (50.66) to win his fourth ti­tle in five years.

Ale­jan­dro up­set Gor­don in 2012, but the T&T track star took an ear­ly lead in the race and was ahead along the back straight. The 21-year-old ex­tend­ed his ad­van­tage ap­proach­ing the fi­nal two hur­dles and went on to take the vic­to­ry, equalling his games record set in 2010. In third was Bar­ba­di­an Carif­ta team mem­ber Kion Joseph who clocked a per­son­al best of 51.46 ahead of Carif­ta bound Reubin Wal­ters (Mem­phis) who al­so clocked a pb of 52.85.

Wal­ters was one of the mem­bers of this coun­try's con­tin­gent for the Carif­ta Games in Nas­sau, Ba­hamas next week­end who fine-tuned their prepa­ra­tions with per­son­al best per­for­mances. Last year's Carif­ta boys un­der 17 dis­cus win­ner Kene­jah Williams (To­ba­go Fal­cons) got a pb in the boys un­der 18 shot put, get­ting the iron ball out to 17.64. All four of his le­gal throws were bet­ter than sec­ond placed Isa­iah Tay­lor (Abi­lene Wild­cats -12.20). Williams will con­test the Boys Un­der 20 shot put and dis­cus in the Ba­hamas. Kayelle Clarke was third in the women's 200m in a per­son­al best time of 23.85 be­hind Ka­maria Du­rant (Sim­plex) who al­so set a pb in win­ning in 23.42. Bar­ba­dos' Pan Amer­i­can 100m bronze medal­ist Shak­era Re­ece took the run­ner up spot (23.76). Clarke won the G U 20 event at the Carif­ta tri­als ear­li­er this month in a wind as­sist­ed time of 23.75.

In the men's 200 me­tres sprint, Jonathan Far­in­ha (Abi­lene) was beat­en in­to sec­ond in a best time of 21.10. Mori­ba Morain (Sim­plex) took the top spot (21.01) with Guyanese Stephon James, third (21.27). Far­in­ha took the Carif­ta B U17 200m ti­tle last year and will do bat­tle in the B U20 event this year. Boys Un­der 20 dis­cus se­lectee, Mic­ah Mc­Nish (Strid­ers), won the men's event with a throw of 42.66 ahead of the Bar­ba­di­an pair of Tris­tan White­hall (41.31) and Ke­mar Hold­er-Edghill (41.24).

Girls Un­der 20 200m rep­re­sen­ta­tive Do­minique Williams (Neon Track­ers) sped to a sea­son's best time of 2:13.77 in cap­tur­ing the women's 800m. She trailed Amer­i­can Na­jah Floyd af­ter the first lap and timed her fin­ish­ing kick well to pass the Amer­i­can en­ter­ing the fi­nal stretch. Floyd clocked 2:15.56 to fin­ish ahead of Dawnell Col­ly­more (Mem­phis) 2:17.64.

Two-time Carif­ta Girls Un­der 17 javelin medal­list Aki­dah Brig­gs (To­co Ti­tans) won the Un­der-18 event with a dis­tance of 36.65 ahead of an­oth­er To­co com­peti­tor Por­tious War­ren (To­co TAFAC) 32.26 and Daniel­la Bark­er (To­co Ti­tans) 29.79. War­ren re­turned to win the shot put in pb of 14.15 ahead of Carif­ta U 17 cham­pi­on Chelsea James (To­ba­go Fal­cons) 13.80). Ken­isha Paul (Mem­phis) was third (12.57).

World Mas­ters dou­ble cham­pi­ons Gwen­dolyn Smith and Geral­dine George con­tin­ue to shine among their younger ri­vals. Smith won the women's shot put (12.40) with George, third (11.65). Cherisse Mur­ray (11.97) sep­a­rat­ed the Petrotrin Pointe-a-Pierre duo. George got re­venge in the javelin, tak­ing the top spot with a dis­tance of 40.41, with Smith sec­ond (35.60) and Chauntal Mo­han (Pt Fortin New Jets) in third (32.83).

The Carif­ta girls and boys un­der 20 4x100m teams was im­pres­sive. The girls' quar­tet of Peli Al­zo­la, Lisa Wick­ham, Aaliyah Teles­ford and Kayelle Clarke sped to vic­to­ry int he women's event in 45.67 while the boys' out­fit of Bre­on Mullings, Ay­o­delle Taffe, Jereem Richards and John Mark-Con­stan­tine clocked 40.40 to win their heat and fin­ish sec­ond over­all in the men's race.

The vis­it­ing Bar­ba­dos Carif­ta team pro­vid­ed tough com­pe­ti­tion to lo­cal con­tin­gent. Jal­isa Bur­rows led the field in the Girls Un­der 18 long jump with a leap of 5.66. Her win­ning mark was su­pe­ri­or to the win­ner of the women's event, Kerchell Dou­glas (To­co TAFAC) 5.04. Ri­val­do Lea­cock was first to the line in the boys un­der 18 400m hur­dles in per­son­al best clock­ing of 52.94 while Mario Burke sped to vic­to­ry in the 200m in 21.56.

Do­mini­ca's Lon­don Olympic com­peti­tor Lu­an Gabriel topped the Girls U18 200m in 24.52 while Guyanese An­drea Fos­ter se­cured the women's 3000m, lead­ing from the start to win in 10:49.77. Kenyan Barn­abas Kirui added the Fal­cons 5000m ti­tle to his South­ern Games vic­to­ry last week, com­plet­ing the 12.5 lap event in 15:24.72.