Winners set sights on bigger goals after Fidelity series

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 25 September 2017

William Edwards (602) led the field throughout the series.

William Edwards and Tiffany Cole both ran lifetime bests as the completed sweeps of the Fidelity Health Fun Run Series on Saturday, 23 September, with both setting their sights on bigger goals for the upcoming season.

It was a familiar sight over the course of the three-race series to see Edwards, 18, comfortably in the lead as he turned from South Church Street onto Denham Thompson Way to complete the two-mile race.

In the finale, the 345 Athletic Club runner kept up his trend of lowering his times and crossed the finish in 10 minutes 17.8 seconds., shattering his mark of 10:46.7 a week earlier by nearly 30 seconds.

Edwards wants to run for a US college next year.

“I wanted to go out there and give it my best. I didn’t start my watch at the beginning, so I was running blind for a little bit of it. I’ll take the progression [throughout the series]. I’m pleased with it,” Edwards said.

“It wasn’t as fast as I wanted to go,” said the Cayman Prep student. “But given the conditions and everything over the last couple of weeks, I’m pleased with it. Can’t be disappointed with a personal best.”

His 345 AC teammate Levi Superville became the first runner other than Edwards to dip below 11 minutes during the 2017 series. Superville finished in 10:59 to take second after two third place finishes in earlier weeks. Third on the day was Jermaine Brooks of Mustang Track Club in 11:04.2 seconds – a major improvement over the 12:36 he ran the previous Saturday to finish 26^th.

Sherlock Brooks, who was a consistent performer took third place overall. Okeeve Hamilton, who was second in both of the earlier races, finished down the field after picking up a leg injury and limped to the end. Despite his valiant effort, he fell out of contention for a Top 3 series finish.

: Levi Superville was 2nd in the series.

: Sherlock Brooks finished 3rd in the series.

Among the ladies, 345 AC’s Cole signaled she is the ‘queen of the road’ at this distance. At the start of the series, she said he goal was to go under 12 minutes and having come close on 16 September, she smashed that target with a blazing 11:48.

“I am proud of myself but a bit disappointed. My second mile was 5:50 and my second was eight seconds slower,” the 20-year-old said. “It’s still sub-12 and I’m happy about that but if I could have gotten that negative split, I’d be even happier about it.”

Tiffany Cole receives her trophy from Fidelity Bank (Cayman) President and CEO Brett Hill.

For the third straight week, her teammate – Ava Hider – was the next female runner to finish. She crossed the line in 12:58, also improving on her earlier times. Third and fourth were Kiara McLaughlin and Molly Kehoe with Nadine Gray fifth.

Cole was full of praise for Hider and Kehoe. Hider was second overall in the series and Kehoe third, having consistently been in the top five of each race.

Teenager Ava Hider has been making great strides.

Cole said if you haven’t as yet, it’s time to sit up and take notice of the two young runners. “We’re going to see a lot of great stuff from Ava and Molly considering the CARIFTA standards. They got the CARIFTA standards at the end of last season, so I look forward to them getting that standard early this season and going out there to get a medal for us,” she said.

Meantime, Cole has her sights set on representing the Cayman Islands internationally in the year ahead, especially the Commonwealth Games in April and the North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Championships.

“I’ll look forward to qualifying for those but I’m going to take it one road race at a time for the pre-season and then I’ll look forward to doing the track meets in January,” she said.

Edwards, who failed to win a medal at the CARIFTA Games last April, would like a chance to redeem himself next year but has another major focus: “For this season, I’m going to try and probably get recruited by a school in the US to run collegiately. That’s pretty much the big goal this season,” he told CaymanSportsBuzz.com.