The Paraquita Beast, the 4th race of the Trident Trust 5K Series, was held at Paraquita Bay on Saturday, May 4, 2024. Photo: VI Sports & Culture

Jermaine A. Rickets aka ‘JJ’, left, collects his spot prize for winning the Paraquita Beast. Photo: BVI Runners

The course is known as the Paraquita Beast due to its challenging inclines; however, that didn’t appear to be much of a problem for Jermaine A. Rickets aka ‘JJ’.

Ricketts conquered the course in an impressive 18 minutes and 53 seconds.

The race started in front of the main building at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC). Athletes ran down the drive and exited the campus to turn right and right again onto Agricultural Road. They had to run the length of the road to a turn point and return to the campus, then continue to a tree behind the campus, turn and run the drive again to exit the facility and cross the road to enter the Marine College campus, stay right to climb a short steep hill and left to run the loop and return to the finish line in front of the main college building.

Julius Farley was the second athlete to complete the race. Farley clocked 20:51.1.

Mark Stephenson, competing in the 50-59 age category, ran an impressive 21:43.5. So did veteran Curwin Andrews, who had a time of 22:19.7. Andrews also competed in the 50-59 age category.

Vicki Francis holds off Priya Mattu

On the distaff side, Vicki Francis completed the gruelling course in 24:09.8.

Priya Mattu was second in 24:13.7 and Rosmond Johnson third in 25:31.8.

35 runners and 6 walkers took to the start line.

The final race of the series is the National 5k Championship and Dual Carriageway Dash, which starts and finishes at the Mondo Track at A.O. Shirley Ground on June 1, 2024.