Team TTO had a successful outing at the Caricom 10K road race held on Sunday in Trinidad and Tobago with Nicolas Romany taking first place in the men’s category and Samantha Shukla placing second in the women’s category.

The 10K is part of various Caricom Heads of Government related activities taking place this week.

Also among the finishers in the 10K were Donnell Francis and Tafari Waldron, who had strong performances at the Carifta Games held over the Easter weekend in the Bahamas.

Tafari struck gold in the Boys U-20 5,000m event, winning the race with a significant lead over his nearest rival. He would be among the athletes competing at the NGC-Republic Bank National Junior Championships to be held at the newly-refurbished Hasely Crawford Stadium.

This will be the first event to be held at the venue since it was closed in late February to facilitate refurbishment works ahead of the Commonwealth Youth Games. The Games will be held in Trinidad and Tobago from August 4-11. Seven different sports will be contested at various venues across both islands with athletics being held at the stadium.

Next weekend’s event will serve as the first of two test events designed to measure the country’s preparedness to host the athletics component of the Games. The Junior Championships is being considered “the soft test” and will identify potential shortfalls and issues that need to be addressed.

The “hard test” will be the National Open Championships scheduled for July 29 and 30. That event will be akin to a final dress rehearsal, when it is expected that all systems will be functional and running smoothly.