Dar­ius Hard­ing emerged as the over­all cham­pi­on of the Sec­ondary Schools Track and Field As­so­ci­a­tion (SST­FA) North Re­gion 5K race at the North East­ern Col­lege on Gra­ham Street, San­gre Grande, on No­vem­ber 13.

​Hard­ing, who at­tends CTS Col­lege, crossed the fin­ish line in 16 min­utes 49 sec­onds (16.49). The 2025 Carif­ta Games com­peti­tor fin­ished ahead of last year’s Carif­ta Games Boys’ Un­der-17 3,000-me­tre bronze medal­list, Isa­iah Alder of Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege (QRC), who clocked 17.23, and To­co Sec­ondary’s Da­reeon Tom (17.48).

Speak­ing af­ter the race Hard­ing told Guardian Me­dia Sports he par­tic­i­pat­ed in the race as part of his prepa­ra­tion for the 2026 sea­son. “I on­ly knew about the race un­til last night (Wednes­day). This race come like train­ing for me. The sun was hot. The first run (North Re­gion 5K) was hard­er.”

​This year’s Carif­ta Boys’ U-17 800m gold medal­list Brion Scott was fourth. The El Do­ra­do East Sec­ondary pupil stopped the clock in 17.55.

​Mikael Ser­rette, rep­re­sent­ing Ari­ma Cen­tral Sec­ondary, was fifth (18.02), with Shane Bis­soon (Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, San Fer­nan­do), 18.05; Christo­pher Rad­lay (Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, Ch­agua­nas), 18.47; and Asayeis Lei­th (Trin­i­ty Col­lege, Mo­ka), 19.20, com­plet­ing the top eight, re­spec­tive­ly.

​The vic­to­ry was the sec­ond for Hard­ing af­ter he won the South Re­gion 5K held at San Fer­nan­do East Sec­ondary, Pleas­antville on Oc­to­ber 16 in 15.29. Scott (17.14) was sec­ond.

​Mari­ah Charles (Table­land Sec­ondary) copped the Girls’ ho­n­ours in 23.03. The St Joseph Con­vent-Port of Spain pair of Za­hzara Williams (23.26) and Ayra Siewrat­tan (24.11) were sec­ond and third, re­spec­tive­ly.

​The Bish­op Anstey duo of Aaliyah Grif­fith (24.23) and Ken­na Cum­mings (24.42) fol­lowed be­hind. Joselle Gib­son (Prov­i­dence Girls’ Con­vent), 24.51, Alafia Charles (St Stephen’s Col­lege), 25.23, and Je­ni­ah To­bias (Bish­op Anstey), 26.39 were next.

​Charles im­proved on her sec­ond-place fin­ish in the South Re­gion 5K, where she was beat­en to the line by Al­isha James (Mara­bel­la South Sec­ondary).

​Girls’ cham­pi­on Charles was proud of her tri­umph. “I feel very con­fi­dent, hap­py, and great. I want­ed to do bet­ter this time. That is why I tried and ran (my all).”

​Six hun­dred and sev­en­ty-four (674) stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ed in the North Re­gion 5K, while 595 com­plet­ed the South Re­gion leg.

Re­sults

Nov 13

North Re­gion 5K (674)

North East­ern Col­lege

Girls

Over­all: 1 Mari­ah Charles (Table­land Sec) 23.03, 2 Za­hzara Williams (St. Joseph Con­vent-POS) 23.26, 3 Arya Siewrat­tan (St Joseph Con­vent-POS) 24.11, 4 Aaliyah Grif­fith (Bish­op nstey) 24.23, 5 Kean­na Cum­mings (Bish­op Anstey) 24.42, 6 Joselle Gib­son (Prov­i­dence Girls) 24.51, 7 Alafia Charles (St Stephen’s) 25.23, 8 Jeneiah To­bias (Bish­op Anstey) 25.39

U-15: 1 Mari­ah Charles (Table­land Sec) 23.03, 2 Aaliyah Grif­fith (Bish­op Anstey) 24.23, 3 Kean­na Cum­mings (Bish­op Anstey) 24.42

U-17: 1 Alafia Charles (St Ste­hen’s) 24.23, 2 Mya Phillips (Bish­op Anstey) 25.39, 3 Ja­da Med­i­na (Holy Faith Con­vent-Pe­nal) 27.17

17+: 1 Za­hzara Williams (St. Joseph Con­vent-POS) 23.26, 2 Arya Siewrat­tan (St. Joseph Con­vent-POS) 24.11, 3 Je­ni­ah To­bias (Bish­op Anstey) 25;39

Boys

Over­all: 1 Dar­ius Hard­ing (CTS Col­lege) 16.49, 2 Isa­iah Alder (Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege) 17.33, 3 Darreon Thom (To­co Sec) 17.48, 4 Brion Scott (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 17.55, 5 Mikael Ser­rette (Ari­ma Cen­tral Sec) 18.02, 6 Shane Bis­soon (Pre­sen­ta­tion-S’Do) 18.05, 7 Christo­pher Rad­lay (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 18.47, 8 Asayeis Lei­th (Trin­i­ty-Mo­ka) 19.20

U-15: 1 Ray­mond Lewis (North­ern East­ern) 19.24, 2 Zane Sook­nanan (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 20.05, 3 En­zi Davis (Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege) 20.20

U-17: 1 Brion Scott (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 17.55, 2 Mikael Ser­rette (Ari­ma Cen­tral Sec) 18.02, 3 Asayeis Lei­th (Trin­i­ty-Mo­ka) 19.20,

17+: 1 Dar­ius Hard­ing (CTS Col­lege) 16.49, 2 Isa­iah Alder (Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege) 17.33, 3 Darreon Thom (To­co Sec) 17.48

Staff

Women: 1 Dr Nicole Par­ris (Ari­ma Cen­tral Sec) 37.21, 2 Ri­an Ra­ma­rack (San­gre Grande Sec) 38.27, 3 Sherei­ka Fields (St Joseph Col­lege) 40.54

Men: 1 Bri­an Ho­sein (San­gre Grande Sec) 31.37, 2 Kirk Williams (Bish­op Anstey East) 32.00, 3 Kurt Saun­ders (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 32.41

Oct 16 (595)

South Re­gion 5K

San Fer­nan­do East Sec­ondary

Girls

Over­all. 1 Al­isha James (Mara­bel­la South Sec) 22.49, 2 Mari­ah Charles (Table­land Sec) 24.29, 3 Faith Ma­rine (Mara­bel­la South Sec) 25.54, 4 Rene­ice Smith (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 26.31, 5 Nashavia John­son (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 27.48, 6 Ja­da Med­i­na (Holy Faith Con­vent-Pe­nal) 27.49, 7 Mark­isha Mc­Clashie (Bar­rack­pore West Sec) 27.49, 8 Nakay­la Gor­don (Holy Faith Con­vent-Pe­nal) 28.00

U-15: 1 Mari­ah Charles (Table­land Sec) 24.29, 2 Rene­ice Smith (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 26.31, 3 Kayli­nAli (Iere High) 30.13

U-17: 1 Al­isha James (Mara­bel­la South Sec) 22.49, 2 Faith Ma­rine (Mara­bel­la South Sec) 25.54, 3 Ja­da Med­i­na (Holy Faith Con­vent-Pe­nal) 27.49

17+: 1 Nashavia John­son (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 27.48, 2 Nakay­la Gor­don (Holy Faith Con­vent-Pe­nal) 28.00, 3 Kar-Lee Phillip (Rio Claro East Sec) 32.48

Boys

Over­all: 1 Dar­ius Hard­ing (CTS Col­lege) 15.29, 2 Bri­an Scott (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 17.14, 3 Shane Bis­soon (Pre­sen­ta­tion-S’Do) 17.22, 4 Nathan Gar­rin (Iere High) 18.21, 5 Christo­pher Rad­hay (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 18.28, 6 Gaven Wag­n­er (Pre­sen­ta­tion-S’Do) 18.49, 7 Aadil Mo­hammed (Vish­nu Boys) 18.57, 8 Je­re­mi­ah Lynch (Pre­sen­ta­tion-S’Do) 19.16

U-15: 1 Tyrus Howe (Mara­bel­la South Sec) 20.00, 2 Zane Sook­nanan (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 20.37, 3 Jo­e­van Lynch (Table­land Sec) 21.23

U-17: 1 Bri­an Scott (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 17.14, 2 Nathan Gar­rin (Iere High) 18.21, 3 Gaven Wag­n­er (Pre­sen­ta­tion-S’Do) 18.49

17+: 1 Dar­ius Hard­ing (CTS Col­lege) 15.29, 2 Bri­an Scott (El Do­ra­do East Sec) 17.14, 3 Christo­pher Rad­hay (Pre­sen­ta­tion-Chag) 18.28