ELIZABETH WILLIAMS brought the crowd at the National Stadium to its feet on Sunday when she won the mixed 3 000 metres on the final night of the Athletics Association of Barbados’ National Junior Championships.
Williams, of Elite Distance Programme, was the lone female competitor and had to run with the Under-18 boys but she slammed the field to win in an impressive time of ten minutes, 32.52 seconds. Williams bided her time behind Harrison College’s Joshua Lowe, who led for most of the race before making a bold attempt to move to the front at the 200-metre mark.
Lowe tried his best to avoid being overtaken but his legs began to fail him on the home straight and Williams finally passed him just about three metres from the finish line. He ended up winning the Under-18 Boys’ race in 10:32.81 while R’Mario Maxwell of Elite Distance was second in 11:21.01. Joshua Griffith of Harrison College was third in 13:05.97.
Williams’ time is better than the national record of 10:39.21 set in 1998 by Yvette Mayers but it won’t be considered a new national record because it was a mixed event. Williams has a personal best of 10:27.67 which she ran earlier this year in another mixed race at the Joseph Payne Memorial Classic.
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