Road March race down to the wire

"Neck and neck" is how the race for 2025 Road March title was described by masqueraders and spectators during Carnival festivities in downtown Port of Spain on Carnival Tuesday (March 4). The songs echoing through the streets of PoS were Carry it by Bunji Garlin and Machel Montano's Pardy.

With Montano chasing an 11th Road March title, which will take him level with the legendary Aldwyn "Lord Kitchener" Roberts, the soca king has a fight on his hands to win the crown. The last of Montano's ten titles came in 2019, when he teamed up with Bunji and Gamal "Skinny Fabulous" Doyle to thrill fans and take home the Road March crown with Famalay. Bunji went on to cop the Road March in 2023 with his mega hit Hard Fete, with his 2024 song Carnival Contract coming a close second to Mical Teja's DNA in 2024.

DNA was played a total of 341 times last year, with Carnival Contract racking up 225 plays. And though the official 2025 results were not out up until press time, it is expected to be a relatively close race – at least on the evidence of what was played across the various stages in the nation's capital.

"It's been a neck and neck fight," said longtime announcer and host Jemma Jordan, as she took a pause from her duties at the downtown PoS judging point. "It's definitely between Carry it and Pardy. Machel's Pardy has been getting a lot of plays, but the same goes for Carry it. Some bands are playing both songs to cross the stage."

After midday, the procession of bands across the downtown PoS stage seemed to be going at a casual pace as bands such K2K Alliance and Partners and Ombre Mas taking the downtown stage before 2 pm. However, the pace picked up around 4 pm or so.

K2K's portrayal of Holy Trespasses was an interesting blend of colour and design, and received praise from at least one spectator.

"We followed a few of the bands and what has impressed me is they have stuck to what they said they were going to do," said Lyn J, a content creator associated with the Gartsy YouTube channel.

"You would see feathers and then you would see others who were a bit more into the fabric and showing a bit more creativity in another sense. The feathers and stuff are creative...but we like to see the traditional ones and there were the more modern feather ones. K2K brought a really good presentation, and Kinetics as well. We followed Kinetics before in terms of their inspiration and their designers, and what they brought to the judging point is exactly what they said they would do. It was really good to see that."

Lyn was also torn in the Road March race, but she did say Aaron "Voice" St Louis' Too Own Way was her personal choice for the road.

"(The Road March) race has been between Carry it and Pardy. Both have been neck and neck as far as we could see. The people have been responding to both, so we'll see," Lyn said. "It's really been a lot of lovely selections, but so far, Pardy and Carry it are at the top."

She said Carnival is a worldwide spectacle and she is happy to her play her small part in showcasing TT's culture.

"We have a lot of people who are not here round the globe, further up the Caribbean, further international like Europe and so on and they're missing the culture. They're happy for people like us who bring it virtually to them and they really appreciate it. It's been really busy and there have been a lot of stuff to cover. It's been good," Lyn said.

K2K's masquerader Asa Hodge, who was playing mas for the first time since 2015, said his experience with the band was great and he will definitely be returning for another year.

"The costumes are gorgeous, the bands are fantastic. Carnival has been wonderful," Hodge told Newsday, as he walked down Richmond Street and geared up to take the downtown stage.

"The soca is really great this year, so I've really enjoyed this experience on the road so far and I'm having a blast...so far, it's been good for us. We crossed the savannah stage first this morning and that was wonderful. We did the Ariapita Avenue stage, Victoria stage and it was pretty busy. Now, we're heading to (the) downtown (stage) to have some fun and then we'll head to Piccadilly Street after."

Newsday also caught up with cyclist Liam Trepte, who was trailing the band Moko Somokow as they crossed the downtown stage in the small band category. Liam's pick for Road March was Carry it.

At the downtown PoS stage, both Carry it and Pardy seemed to have masqueraders in a chokehold, with Showtime Carnival making their name with Montano's song with at least three plays as they displayed their 2025 presentation Spectrum.

The downtown PoS crowd was thoroughly entertained as there were lively performances from veteran Iwer George, new National Freestyle champion Akeem "Preedy" Chance and Grenadian artiste Wrenroy "Blaka Dan" Ogiste who copped the inaugural Ultimate Soca Champion crown.

Also making their way across the downtown PoS stage on Carnival Tuesday afternoon were Belmont Exotic Stylish Sailors, Next Level Blue Devils, Tribal Connection Cultural Promotions, popular pan side Desperadoes Steel Orchestra and small cultural groups We deserve a pardy and Welcome to the circus.