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On The White Wall - Session #5

The Easter Monday Round The Island Relay was a unique Montserratian event and the undefeated Road Runners was arguably the best team in its history.This week My Montserat's Iris chats with one of the team's founders and star runner, and one of the people behind My Montserrat JMaCwell.
This week...On The White Wall
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My Montserrat:
Welcome to The White Wall, which part of the Island are you from? 

JM:
Kinsale, Aymers Ghaut actually. 

My Montserrat:
I first saw you running during cross country at MSS, is that where you started? 

JM:
Yes, running, distance running in particular wasn't something that appealed to me prior to MSS. I came down from Junior Sec and started running simply because Cross country was compulsory and I wasn't sickly enough to get a doctor's pass and didn't want to mess with Peter White, who was the principal then. Finished around tenth the first time, was in pain for like a week and decided if I'm going to have to do this crap, I'm going to have to practice and headed to the Library to search for running books and magazines. 

My Montserrat:
You've said that at one point you were obsessed with the cross country record at MSS, why was that? 

JM:
I hated track. I wasn't fast enough early on to compete with the quicker track runners, guys like Keith Duxcy Morson and Steve Foster to name two. Cross country was another game though, about four miles long and required a different combination of speed, strength and endurance. What really fascinated me was the fact that it was old, as in long standing and I watched a lot of good runners chase it year and after year and come up short, way short most times. A good runner was going to win the race every year, it was going to take a great run to get the record. I wanted to be great. 

My Montserrat:
Prior to winning and breaking the record you'd never won any race anywhere. You're quoted as saying that nobody thought you could do it and you didn't think you could lose, why were you so confident? 

JM:
Well, I was just a skinny kid from Kinsale nobody really knew, but we were training hard. I used to hook up with my good friend the late Leon Jarvis in front of Moose in the evenings and we'd run up to the Soufriere, three to five days a week. I was also doing speed work with Scotty. Two weeks before game day, on a Saturday, we raced the course and clocked twenty one minutes flat.The record was twenty-two ten. Somebody was going to have to lay down an awfully quick time to get away, we didn't see that happening. 

My Montserrat:
Which house were you in? 

JM:
Blue House baby. 

My Montserrat:
The Easter Monday relay was as much a spectacle as it was a sporting event, tell us a little about that. 

JM:
The entire weekend was nice. There was Basketball down by Shamrock, a fete somewhere, perhaps some action down at Foxes Bay and the Disco's were usually hot. I had friends who'd be at La Cav all night then come straight to the race Monday morning, slightly under the influence.
The race itself started at the main gate of MSS, went North, came around the East and down into town finishing back at MSS via George Street and Marine Drive. It drew spectators all along the route and a lot of people followed it in vehicles. It was a wicked Montserratian party atmosphere, words can't really do it justice. It is one of those things in life that I consider myself fortunate to have been a part of. 

My Montserrat:
How many teams did you represent? 

JM:
I made my fist team at MSS, then moved to Corkhill for a couple of years, then on to Road Runners. 

My Montserrat:
You were succesful with team Corkhill why'd you leave? 

JM:
I loved Corkhill, had a lot of friends, fans and family there and we had a really good team. Tash (Venrick Forrester) and Eddie "Ninja Man" Lindsey came to me with the idea, forming a new team to represent South of the Bridge so to speak. There was a great team from that area (Jubilee) in the early days of the race, but nothing for a long time. I'd get to captain and help select my own guys, couldn't pass that up. 

My Montserrat:
Was it hard to find guys and who were some of the original team members? 

JM:
No it wasn't. There was Jericho (Herman Lewis) who was with me at Corkhill and I knew he'd follow me, Tash and Ninja, we went to Saydro (James Allen), he was interested and so was Leon Jarvis.There was also David Bernard from Wapping, Clifford Greenaway from Trials, Lobster from Kinsale, his name is eluding me right now and Chumaka from St Patricks. Marcus Jemmote was there and Charles Riley was the Manager. We got a good team together quickly and got MS Osborne to sponsor us. 

My Montserrat:
I've heard that that you are possibly the greatest starter in race history. What do you think about that and what was it that made the start so special? 

JM:
I was pretty good, but that's debatable and not something I think about. The first leg was where the bad boys came to play. The big race within the big race. It was a shade under two miles from MSS to Corkhill, mostly flat and fast with a long uphill finish. Winning the team event was the primary goal, but taking the first leg had a certain cachet, if you fancied yourself to be a top gun, you wanted that. My dad was from Corkhill, he died when I was little and I used to imagine he was up there [Corkhill] watching me finish. It was one of the things that really fired me up on Easter Monday's, didn't want him to see me lose. 

My Montserrat:
Is there anyone in particular you would have like to have raced on that leg?
Who would've been a dream matchup for you? 

JM:
DJ Duxcy Morson from Orange House.
He is perhaps the finest pure middle-distance runner to come out of Montserrat in my time, maybe ever. We are to the best of my knowledge the only two guys who were good enough to win the start while still at MSS. 

My Montserrat:
So why do you think you could have taken him, I'm assuming you do? 

JM:
Duxcy had superior foot speed and like most track runners with a great kick, he liked to wait and use his kick to put you away. If we get within striking distance of the finish and he's comfy his odds of winning go up, way up. It's one thing to kick hard from your comfort zone though and another thing to do so after you've been running outta your mind for a good mile or so. I'd make sure he got out of his zone early and stayed there. It would've been one helluva race. 

My Montserrat:
Do you have a favorite moment from the race. 

JM:
The first time I won the start was special, I was still in school then and wasn't sure I could outrun Arthur "Raggy" Bramble from Delvins, who was a very good runner. But there are two others, contrasting runs from my Road Runner days that are extra nice. 

My Montserrat:
Do tell. 

JM:
One year I got away from the pack early, right after we went by the main gate at Groves and took off. Got up to the finish, passed the baton to Jericho, turned around and Corkhill road was empty. There wasn't another runner in sight anywhere.That was surreal. 

My Montserrat:
The other? 

JM:
The next year, won the first leg and went over to Cudjoe Head for my second and there was James "fittest man" Greenaway waiting to get in his first. Got a slight lead and he raced by like a rocket going down Brades and disappeared, it was the first time anyone had ever gone by me in the relay. Got to Carrs Bay in no man's land, can't see the guys behind me and James is somewhere far ahead, can't see him either and it's a long lonely climb up to St Johns School. 

My Montserrat:
Did you think you'd catch him and were you surprised when you did? 

JM:
Honestly no and yes very surprised. I was just running hard, hoping to close the gap and minimize the damage so that Tash and my other teammates could get us back in the race. 

My Montserrat:
So describe "the moment" for us. 

JM:
I remember going around a corner and hearing the crowd erupt up ahead and I realized he's up there somewhere within reach. At this point it's like you're in a movie you know, a rolling wall of sound and colors. Rounded another corner and the crowd's going nuts, looked up and there are guys jumping off trucks, coming out of cars, urging him on and there are people behind me, at the side of the road, girls yelling at me to go up and get him. 

My Montserrat:
So what'd you do? 

JM:
By this time I'm hurting, seriously, but properly stoked. I dug in and went for it. Gotta give him credit though, he didn't fold right away, he kept throwing punches, running back on me and I'd have to reload and run him down again. It was awesome stuff. Still one of the hardest races I've ever done. 

My Montserrat:
Were you ever beaten on the first leg and did your team ever lose? 

JM
No and no.

My Montserrat:
Are you still running? 

JM
Yep, I'm not racing as much as I used to but I am in decent shape right now. 

My Montserrat:
Was there anyone you idolized when you were starting out as a runner? 

JM:
Yea, Leon was the man, I still miss him. One year a guy came down from Antigua to run for team Taurus I think it was,Tyrone Thibou. He later became one of my training partners in NYC. He started for them, it was the first time I had seen anyone get away from the pack that early and finish with pace. I wanted to race like that. 

My Montserrat:
You are planning on going back home soon.
You're a certified distance coach, would you like to coach down there? 

JM:
Absolutely. Coach and rebuild my team.
I'm not sure what the talent level is like down there now, but we've always had talented distance runners, what we haven't had are a lot of distance coaches. With a good program and disciplined talent we can at the very least produce runners who are capable of running fast times locally and regionally. Another thing is we've never had any really outstanding female d istance runners. There were girls who were good in school, but never really took it up a notch after that. 

My Montserrat:
Why was that? 

JM
-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well several things, lack of coaching for one, lack of opportunity is another. We didn't really have a good system or any system at all at one point to be honest. There weren't a lot of distance races, and the ones we did have outside of the school system involved men only. But the talent was always there, girls like Mary-Ann and Meredith could really run. The possibility of finding and developing some 800/1500 meter and 5K runners intrigues me. 

My Montserrat:
Would that be hard you think? 

JM:
No doubt. There are a lot of factors in play, including the environment. It takes more than talent to succeed. Competetive distance running isn't easy, you have to train hard and consistently. Even if you find some talent, selling them on your program and getting them to stick with it is another thing entirely. It's very doable though, I think. 

My Montserrat:
Why'd you start My Montserrat? 

JM:
I'm constantly homesick, it was just going to be a place where I'd put up a few old pictures and some links and maybe swap stories with a couple of friends. I worked on it one Sunday and invited a few friends who in turn invited a few more and it just took off, still not q uite sure what happened. 

My Montserrat:
Where do you see it going in the future? 

JM:
Well, it's fairly new and still evolving, but the underlying theme which is Monserrat culture won't change. We'll keep it simple and just keep adding things to complement that. I'd like to thank the fans here, especially the ones who participate regularly and those who send in or upload pictures and music. We've got good fans. 

My Montserrat:
I've had people ask how or where they can send in stuff, what's the easiest way to do that? 

JM:
If you have an old photo or any photo you'd like to share, you can upload it to the page, via the Photos tab on the Wall and it will go in as a fan photo. If you want to submit something via email we're at uot;color: windowtext;">mymontserrat@gmail.com, include a description of whatever it is you're sending, so we can caption it properly and credit you. 

My Montserrat:
Thanks for coming on The White Wall. 

JM:
My pleasure, did I mention that I was in Blue House? 

My Montserrat:
Yes you did, so was I, this is Blue Country afterall.