The two top marathon runners in the 19th staging of the Reggae Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K are Japanese Daichi Hosada and British Rosemund Ponder, who were first across the line in the men’s and women’s marathon event held on Sunday, December 8 in Negril

Hosada clocked 2:37.37 to beat first runner-up Jamaican Gregory McKenzie, who reached the finish line at 2:45.36.   Third place winner  was Jamaican Winthrope Wellington, with a time of 2:51.

Ponder, the top female marathoner, clocked 3:13.06 to beat Amandao Nadeau of Canada, whose time was 3:33.49.  In third place was Midori Iwata of Japan with 3:40.25.

Top prize in the men’s Half Marathon went to Henry Thomas of UCC Steppas who recorded a time of 1:12.20 to place first, while Kevin Campbell, who ran independently, came second in 1:21.57 and Dale Morgan of MoBay Movers, took third place with 1:25.54.

In the women’s section of the Half Marathon, Franziska Fallman of Germany burst the tape at 1:36.17, while Elizabeth Mondon of Jamaica came across the line next at 1:37.23 and Arieta Martin of Jake’s on the south coast was third with 1:44.51.

In the men’s section of the 10K race, Garfield Gordon, of UCC Steppas took the top prize in a time of 32.59 minutes.  Last year he won as arepresentative of GC Foster College.   Behind him at the finish line was Romoy Grant of Bellfield High School, who came in at 34.29, while

Dontae Hudson, also of Bellfield High School, came in third with 36.35.

A 13-year-old student of St. Jago’s, Nikeisha Henry, took first place in the women’s 10K race with 39.51 minutes, ahead of her teammate Rushell Johnson, who clocked 40.51. Samantha Pryce of Holmwood Technical High School came in third with 42.16 minutes.

The annual event ended on a high at Negril’s Long Bay Beach Park with runners enjoying performances from Warrior King, Digicel Rising Stars Short Boss and Sherlon Russel, in addition to Indie Allen and DJ Steamaz.