Parag wins Open 5,000m distance at Subway Open Water swim

EIGHTEEN-year-old national swimmer Josiah Parag won the 5,000m distance event at the Subway Maracas Open Water yesterday morning as closed the gruelling race in one hour, ten minutes and 26 seconds.

Parag was closely followed behind by Nikoli Blackman, 13, another national swimmer, who placed second in 1:10:43. Blackman later went on to win the 3,000m distance.

Zarek Wilson, yet another TT swimmer on the international stage, placed third in 1:13:39.

The female equivalent was captured by Jada Chatoor, 16, who crossed the finish line in 1:14:56, which was the ninth fastest overall time. Placing second and third were Dominique Nurse-Allen (1:17:26) and Shania David (1:17:32), respectively. Twenty-two swimmers, 17 male and five female completed the event.

The 3,000m distance was won by Blackman in 44:04. John Littlepage clocked 44:08 for second and Obadyah Ince, 44:04 for third.

The fastest female swimmer over the same distance was Zoe Anthony (48:54), followed by Gabriella Acosta (49:22) and Terri Yates (50:22).

There was an 1,000m race for seniors and juniors. Troy Llanos and Logan Raymond both clocked 16:40, although Llanos took the edge for the win, while Je’ci Adams was third in 16:42.

Among the women, Teresa Otero (16:57), Neishelah Caseman (16:59) and Yasmin Mohammed (17:12) took first to third, respectively.

Zachary Anthony and Keryn Burke clocked 15:47 and 16:15 to capture the boys and girls crowns.

Following the races, awards were presented to 25 categories of male and female swimmers of various ages in the three distances.