Dandrade, Gutierrez triumph at Starbucks 5K

LIONEL Dandrade and Thais Gutierrez were the champions of the men’s and women’s category respectively, when the inaugural Starbucks 5K event was held yesterday.

The 5K was originally scheduled to take place on October 20, but was postponed because of nationwide flooding that weekend. The weather was cool yesterday, which was more conducive for running.

The race started at the Starbucks Ellerslie Plaza, Maraval branch. Participants ran around the Queen’s Park Savannah, before returning to Starbucks for the end of the race.

Dandrade, a Guyanese based in Trinidad, won the overall and men’s title in a time of 18 minutes and 17 seconds. Omesh Persaud finished second in 18:1 8 and Kevon Mitchell rounded off the top three in 18:47.

Venezuelan Gutierrez, a resident of TT, copped the women’s crown in 21:36, Alison Yearwood was second and Alexandria Herrera ended third. The times of Yearwood and Herrera were not confirmed up to press time last evening.

Dandrade said he used the Starbucks event as a warm-up for a marathon in two weeks. “After coming off the (UWI) Half Marathon last week Sunday, I just took it easy because I have a marathon on the 17th in Suriname. This is just a little warm-up for me,” Dandrade said.

Dandrade said he was not concentrating on the time but just wanted to win. He said, “I did not run for time I just ran for the win. I just took my time because (today) I have a long run. I have 20 miles to do (today), so I just used this as a warm-up.”

Gutierrez was glad she was able to compete after the event was postponed. Gutierrez said, “I am so happy. I was looking forward to this race since the 20th and they postponed it. I actually went away for work and I was lucky to be back on time to do the race.”

Gutierrez said she was not satisfied with her time. “I would have liked to do a faster time, but I know I have not been training that much and I also have been injured, but I did great and I am happy I finished strong.”