MARIGOT—Just about half of the 150-200 runners that took part in the third annual St. Barths half Marathon that concluded Sunday, February 21, came from St. Maarten and St. Martin, an unprecedented turnout given all the restrictions and lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was originally in doubt due to the travel restrictions (compelling reasons only) imposed by the French government however the restrictions were lifted in time to allow the event to go ahead.
St. Maarten Road Runners, and from the French side SXtreme Runners, Dream of Trails, and Inter Generation Runners were the four clubs taking part. Apart from the individual runners there were 35 teams competing over three legs of the course, and seven corporate teams participating.
The course was the same as the previous edition with a departure at 5:45am from the stadium with a 2 km lap in Saint-Jean then towards Lorient, Saline car park, back to Lorient, to Saint-Jean, then La Tourmente, Public, Gustavia, the Collectivité, exit Gustavia via the Dispensary, Tourmente, Saint-Jean, L'Eden Rock bridge, return and arrival at the stadium.
The times to beat were those set by Fabien Husson and Aude Vermillard in 2020 in 1:19:10 and 1:41:53 respectively.
Those times were shattered by Cécilia Mobuchon from St. Martin who completed the 21K course in 1:18:57, beating all the best runners from St. Martin, St. Maarten and St. Barths. Mobuchon is a doctor at the hospital in St. Martin and runs professionally.
The Club from St. Martin that featured most in the individual results was Inter-Generation Runners with Jeannot Gouin achieving the best result for the club with third overall in 1:23:46, behind last year’s winner Fabien Husson in 1:20:08.
Elsewhere the individual results were peppered with well-known names from St. Maarten or St. Martin. To name a few: Steve Duzanson sixth overall in 1:27:58, Krispijn Teunissen, the coach who trained a few runners, 18th place in 1:40: 11, Andy Armongon and Celine Verdonck from SXtreme Runners finishing in 28th and 29th place in 1:41:28 and 1:41:29, Paul Melskens 30th place in 1:41, Saro Spadaro in 63rd place in 1:53: 52, and so on.
Tri Sport entered two teams, a girl’s fun team and a corporate team (Juan Pablo Piscione, Ronan Garnier and Ronan’s nephew) and they placed second.
Frits Bus was the oldest competitor in the race, running in a Masters class (but not for his age group of 65 plus). He finished 90th in 2:03:07 while wife Zdenka finished in 111th place in 2:13:06 and daughter Berit finished in 97th place in 2:05:28.
“It was very well organised, super nicely done,” said Frits of the event. “people were very nice, a lot of volunteers on the road helping with water stops and food stops. It was a super happy atmosphere and you could tell there was a real motivation to do something for the community to get some relief from all the COVID restrictions and inconvenience.”
Most athletes stayed in lodgings at the sports complex, built for the purpose of visiting athletes.
