Kathleen Brownsdon held of a concerted challenge from Tallulah Kinkead to win the Dive BVI 5K Series opener on Saturday December 17, 2014. Photo: Charlie E. Jackson/VINO

The Virgin Gorda resident found herself in a ferocious battle with 13-year old Tallulah Kinkead before securing the victory in 21 minutes and 34 seconds with Kinkead placing second in 21:49.

“My daughter warned me before the race that she got nominated for Female Road Racer of the Year,” Brownsdon recalled of Kinkead. “And then she passed me one time and I was like ahhh…but then we had the downhill and my legs are a little bit longer and I was able to pass her again. Then she passed me almost at the end. I was like, I can’t let this happen yet, but by the end of the season, she’ll be beating me probably.”

Kinkead, in her Virgin Gorda debut, said the course was easy and she really liked it. “I hadn’t seen about half of the runners before,” she stated. “It pushed me a little.”

Kinkead has her eyes on being among the top runners at the end of 2015. “I have one person that I’m still trying to chase,” she said. “That’s Kat(rina) Crumpler.”

Veteran Virgin Gorda resident Emrol Amsterdam was the overall winner in 20:44. Following Amsterdam were Zebulon A. McLean and Mervin Dainty, in 20:58 and 21:02 respectively.

Amsterdam, who began training recently said having the runners coming over from Tortola makes the race competitive.

“I expect to do a better time in the next race,” he said, noting that he has to train. “There’s a guy here that beat me a couple years ago, Dainty from Virgin Gorda, and when those guys come out it tells me I have to train harder. It can’t pay for those guys just to come out their bed and beat you man. Because of my age, I have to keep training hard to keep them guys off.”

Participants contributed $150 in donations towards the Virgin Gorda Animal Rescue and Kontrol (ARK). The next race is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on Feb 7. Registration begins at 6:10.

Final results: Men:-1. Emrol Amsterdam 20 minutes and 44 seconds. 2. Zebalon McLean 20:58. 3. Mervin Dainty, 21:02. 4. Jeffrey Fowler, 21.15. 5. Ravi Sukhu, 21.23. 6. Curwin Andrews, 21.24. 7. David Kinkead, 21:58. 8. Ezron Simmons, 22:32. 9. Keith Williams, 22:45. 10. Charles Kerins, 22:58. 11. Marlon Felix, 23:17, 12. Pablo Olarte 25:30, 13. Jermain Abrams 25:37, 14. Alex Holliday 26:39, 15. Wilbert “Sampi” Samuel, 30.33. 16.Steph en Beard, 30:45. 17. Keny Jones, 31:45.18. Scott Butz, 32:13. 19. Mel Wicks, 34:07. 20. Indi Abrams, 35:39. 21. Zoltan Birinyi, 36:43. 22. Perez St. Helene, 47:25.

Women: 1. Kathleen Brownsdon, 21:34. 2. Tallulah Kinkead, 21:49. 3. Oniasih Ni Made, 23:54. 4. Anna Kinkead, 25:49. 5. Rhiannon Jones, 26:08. 6. Berenice Garcia, 26:29. 7. Casey McNutt, 26:51. 8. Philomena Robertson, 27:35. 9. Dalores Bagot, 28:01. 10. Kim Berardine, 29:33. 11. Roslyn Gilbert, 31:09. 12. Andrea “AJ” Syrett, 31:11. 13. Ghislaine Hoogendijk, 31:16. 14. Clair Burke, 31:21. 15. Becca Knight, 31:34. 16. Kristen Collins, 33:25. 17. Tara Murphy, 33:25. 18. Annette Wicks, 35:56. 19. Lisa Redfern, 36:30. 20. Linda Giersing, 38:42. 21. Chris Yates, 39:31. 22. Chloe King, 42:26. 22. Sarah Van Name, 42:26. 22. Beth Besom, 42:26. 25. Liz Tapley, 47:25. 26. Betty Biancardi, 49:57. 26. Lynne Hawkins, 49:57.