Neville Dupre led nearly 50 runners across the line in the 2025 edition of the Laureate Challenge 5K on Sunday, beginning at Derek Walcott Square in Castries, and finishing on the campus of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC). The race is a joint initiative of the SALCC and the St Lucia Athletics Association (SLAA).
“I think generally the event went well,” said Dora Henry, president of the SLAA. “It was a success for us. We had over 65 persons registered for the 5K; however, 47 persons would have signed up this morning.
“It was a collaboration between SALCC and the SLAA because we are celebrating the Nobel Laureate Festival, and this is the last event of the Festival for 2025. And what better way to celebrate the laureates than by starting the event at the Derek Walcott Square and end at the College.”
Dupre, a member of the Mercury Athletics Club, claimed the first place trophy with a run of 19:33.06, followed closely by Donson Stanley from Soufrière Athletics Club (19:50.71s) and Gerald Charles from Road Busters Athletics Club (22:14.05s).
“Well, it was okay,” said Dupre. “It was my second time doing it. The first time I came second, this time I came first. I was a little bit tired from yesterday [Saturday], because yesterday I did the Independence Baton Relay for Castries East, where they made me run up Rock Hall Hill. So a little bit tired, but it was okay.”

Makalia Olivierre of Road Busters Athletics Club was the first woman across the line, running 31:17.61, while her teammate Sheba Jn Pierre (31:19.61s) and Jayla Sayers from Morne Stars Athletics Club (32:20.75s) secured second and third places, respectively.
Special awards were presented to the youngest participant, nine-year-old Gavri’el Daniel, who was seventh overall in 27:35.98. The oldest participant, 72-year-old Charles Sayers, Jayla’s grandfather, was 28th with a time of 36:03.28s.
Henry said the decision to hold the race at this time was strategic. “All our events are very important,” she insisted. “And we want to ensure that all our athletes, whether road runners, sprinters, throwers, field event athletes, everybody gets an opportunity to take part in their event. So we have listened to the complaints of our road runners for quite a while. And as a new president and my new executive, we decided to start off our year with our road runners.”
“Oh, it’s very good,” said Dupre, alluding to the number of young runners. “Because you know in Saint Lucia, everybody wants to base their mind they are sprinters, so it’s nice to see that we have athletes coming out to support the long distance. The numbers were okay, I was expecting maybe a little more. From what I heard, they had about 65 persons registered, which I was surprised to hear they had so much. But it was okay. I’m hoping we can get more races organised like that for long distance.”
The SLAA now turns its attention to the Independence Games, which begin this weekend with field events at the George Odlum Stadium and continue the following weekend with track events at the Soufrière Stadium.