Ishmeal Authur of Legon hall and Naomi Addo of Mensah Sarbah hall have been crowned king and queen of the UG@ 75 cross country competition which took place 11th March, 2023 at the University of Ghana.
Individual Performance
35 Athletes across 8 halls; Akuafo, Bani, Nelson, Elizabeth Sey, Hilla Limann, Legon hall, United Nations Hall, featured in the mens’s 10km race, which was largely dominated by the experienced Legon hall men’s cross country team.
Ishmael Arthur and Basit Afful – 1st and 2nd runner up in the 2023 Ghana National Cross country meet, led the medal swoop for the Landlords, clocking impressive times of 31:41:64mins and 32:12:77mins to finish Gold and Silver positions. Fellow Compatriot Salifu Siedu settled for bronze on the warm Saturday morning.
In women’s 10km race, the big names did not disappoint. The diminutive and energetic Naomi Addo of Mensah Sarbah Hall clocked an impressive 40:27:00min to clinch gold. Addo led the pack from start to finish, keeping good distance and maintaining physiological efficiency in the final 4km. Akuafo hall’s Rosemary Afful pulled off 41:17min to finish second with Jennifer Mensah of Akuafo hall beating Stella Agbokpa to the bronze medal.
Team Performance
Akuaffo Hall accrued 39 points to win the ultimate, in the women’s cross country event. Mensah Sarbah hall were shy of 2 points, amassing a total of 42 points whereas Legon Hall gathered 68 points.
In the Men’s event, the Legon Hall team made 68 points to win gold, with Elizabeth Frances Sey hall were as good as 72 points and Akuffo hall gathered 86.
The criteria of scoring was based on six athletes of each team completing the entire distance of the race, after which their individual positions in the race was summed up. The hall that garnered the least scored points from the sum of six rankings of athletes won the race. This explains why Akuafo hall beat Mensah Sarbah hall to gold.
Race Course
The course was designed to match a typical cross country meet, with modifications to meet a college cross country event. It had smaller pools of water, muddy areas, smaller bumps on the course and bushy zones that made the race course a tough one amidst the early morning sun. The course was 2km long, and therefore required Athletes or runners to complete 5 laps to make up the required 10km on a natural dirt terrain.
Story By: Godfred Dampte-Larbi
