Levy, Luke surprise at Central Hurdles and Relays

SPRINTER JURA Levy and new 400-metre hurdler Dennick Luke surprised themselves with big performances at last Saturday’s Central Hurdles and Relays meet, held at G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town.

Levy ran her fastest 400 metres time since 2016, and Luke debuted fast in the one-lap hurdles.

Levy, the top lady at Legacy Athletics, clocked 56.03 seconds to set her season on the right path.

“Honestly, the goal is just to stay healthy. Last year I came back to 11.23, so the goal is just to get past that, working towards a personal best. The 400 is just a part of my training. It’s a training day. I’m very happy with the time,” she said with a smile.

The 2017 World Relays 4x200 gold medallist reckons that the distance will boost her finish in the 100 and 200, where her personal bests are 11.06 and 22.76 seconds, respectively. She had to fend off Christine Cheka of Holmwood Technical to secure the win. “The finish is always my problem, so coming off the curve, I wanted to be within striking ground and I think I did just that,” she analysed.

Cheka’s time was 56.41 seconds.

The World Championship 4x100 silver and bronze medal winner had her last 56-second run in 2016, when she did 56.27.

Luke has run the 400, 800 and 1500 since he came to Edwin Allen High School from his home in Dominica. Since then, as a student at G.C. Foster, he raced his way to the 2021 Olympics and 800 bronze at the 2023 NACAC Under-23 Championships.

He shocked himself on Saturday with a first-time effort of 52.54 seconds. “Wow! 53.00 was the target. 52.6, 52.5? That’s better than I expected. Hoping for a few more in the near future,” he marvelled.

He was ragged on the back straight but as a student of the sport, he wasn’t too hard on himself. “Right,” he concurred, “but you know, all of that will come with time.”

The versatile Dominican has a new favourite event now. Asked what event he loves the most now, he grinned. “I think the 400 hurdles just came over the 400.”

Luke returned later to run the first leg for the college’s victorious 4x400 quartet. The race was won on the anchor leg, where 2023 World semi-finalist Zandrion Barnes went past experienced Demish Gaye of SprinTec with a 45.6-second closer.

The winning time was 3 minutes, 09.04 seconds.