Saba’s first 10K race on Saturday, May 6 was hailed a success with 24 individual participants and six relay teams of four persons each.

A group of enthusiastic runners gathered at the start at Well’s Bay early Saturday morning to face the steepest part of the first-ever 10K race on Saba: the road from Well’s Bay to The Bottom. In The Bottom, the team participants handed over the ribbon to a team member while the individual runners continued the road up toward St. John’s.

At. John’s the relay teams again transferred the ribbon and the individual runners went on to English Quarter, the location of the third transfer for the relay teams. From English Quarter, participants ran to the turn-around at the Hell’s Gate bus stop. There, participants ran back towards Windwardside and turned up Mountain Road. The finish was at the end of Mountain Road.

First to finish of the individual participants was Alwin Hylkema in a time of 57:08, followed by Carlos Franco (58:15) and Jermaine John (58:55). Claire Nuyens was the first female to cross the finish line with a time of 1:25:31. Sarah van der Horn was the second female (1:34:18) and Zelda Meeuwsen third (1:36:36).

Of the relay teams, Rock Runners came in first at 1:22:41. The Fulminatus team came in second (1:34:41) and the Saba Cares Saba Runs team third (1:35:05). Prizes were awarded to the first three teams, the first three male individual participants and the first three female individual participants.

A special prize was given to 15-year-old Max from St. Maarten who was the youngest individual participant. The youngest participant was 6-year-old Andrew who took part in a relay team. Worthwhile to mention was the participation of two Dutch Marines in the 10K and the assistance of some 10 Dutch Marines as volunteers.

Jochem Batstra of Event 66 and Claire Nuyens of Chez Bubba Bistro organized the 10K race. At the end of the race, participants and volunteers gathered at Chez Bubba, the main sponsor of the event, for a drink and a bite. The evening before the race, participants and volunteers came together at Chez Bubba for a briefing and to eat a pasta dinner together.

“I hope that this was a successful experience for everyone to run a 10K. It was the first time that we did this on Saba and we want to certainly organize a next edition,” said Batstra. “We hope to inspire people to continue training and to keep working towards the next challenge.” A group of about 10 people from Saba has been training diligently for the June 4, 2023 triathlon in St. Maarten.

Suzanne Koelega