Athletics: Road Race |28 February 2024

Winner of the men’s 10km category Greth Estico

Great turn-out at first re-launch event

Greth Estico and Shanna Jouanneau triumph among the seniors

Over 40 athletes were at the starting line for the first road race hosted by the Seychelles Athletics Federation as part of its plan to re-introduce the discipline, which despite being an integral element of athletics – long-distance – has been dormant for the past ten years or so.

At Saturday’s event, there were various categories, including seniors (male and female), U-18 and U-20 (male and female), masters (male and female), as well as an U-16 category where the participants were not less than 15 years of age.

In each age group, the athletes had the choice between 5km or 10km.

In the 10km male senior category, it was boxer Greth Estico who crossed the finishing line first in 38 minutes and 57.06 seconds (38:57.06), finishing ahead of Jonathan Quatre who finished second in 40:43.01.

Kalvin Morel finished third overall in 50:12.09, ahead of fourth-place Denis Belle who clocked 57:14.4.

In the same category for the women, it was Shanna Joanneau who finished first in 55:52.00, pushing Anita Amasogna into second place, after clocking 1 hour, 25.05 seconds (1hr00:25.05).

Third overall was Shanti Jeannevole in 1hr07:34.4.

In the male masters’ 10km category, Simon Labiche was first in 40:51.07, ahead of second-placed Noah Chilinda who clocked 45:36.04, while Houssam Ajeeb finished third overall in 46:45.05.

For the women, faithful long-distance runner Brenda Larue was the only participant, completing the race in 55:19.8.

In the male senior 5km category, Shaun Magnan was the grand winner, finishing in 18:03.2, ahead of runner-up Kelvin Nganga who clocked 21:41.3.

Richie Rose was third overall in 22:43.4.

In the female category, the only participant, Angelique Boniface, completed the race in 37:48.2.

For the male masters’ 5km, Sisira Kumara was the winner in 19:46.8, finishing ahead of Brian Dorby whose chrono was 22:21.9.

Hilaire Jaomaro was third overall in 26:06.9.

In the same category for the female, Florise Ernesta, the only contestant, finished in 30:38.7.

For junior girls U-20, Mary Dubel finished first in 23:56.2, ahead of Joy Cupidon who was second in 28:29.9.

In the girls’ youth U-18 competition, Amirah Lespoire was the only competitor, finishing in 25:18.8.

In the same category for the boys, Jashmine Charles was the winner in 19:23.1, finishing ahead of Shean Fred who clocked 19:38.1 to finish second, ahead of third-placed Chris Padayachi who clocked 21:39.9.

Speaking about the event, executive committee member of the SAF, Fabien Belle, said they are satisfied with the number of athletes who turned up, adding that it was a positive sign, with the hope of getting more athletes for future races.

He however noted that the lack of female athletes was disappointing, while several athletes registered, but failed to turn up for the race.

The complete results of the Road Race

Male Senior 10km