Thirty-five years ago, we started CariFin Games with 37 runners on the Queen's Park Savannah. This Wednesday, we come back to the same grass, the same trees, the same 3.5-kilometre loop — and we have the most compelling start line we have ever had.
Champions have come back. Thrones have been left empty. Rivalries have been sharpened all winter. And somewhere in the middle of it all, a man who has won the Road Runner of the Year title four times has looked at our course and said he's going to do something no one in 35 years has done.
Let me tell you who's going to be on that start line.
Part 1 — The Return
Curtis Cox Came Back. And He Brought a Number.
Curtis Cox is back at CariFin. Four-time CariFin cross country champion. Four-time national Road Runner of the Year. A marathon runner with a personal best of 2 hours and 21 minutes. A name that anyone who follows running in Trinidad and Tobago knows by heart.
Cox is running for ANSA Financial Services in 2026 — one of the four new institutions stepping onto the course this year. And he did not come back to participate. He looked at the One Lap Savannah and he made a declaration.
Let me put that number in perspective. The 2025 One Lap Savannah was won in 15 minutes and 30 seconds. Cox is saying he's going to take 30 seconds off the course. On 3.5 kilometres. That is not a target. That is a statement.
And the man who ran that 15:30 last year? He's on the start line too.
Anton Robinson Hasn't Lost a Race in 12 Months.
Anton Robinson of First Citizens is the most dominant runner in recent CariFin history. In 2025, he entered every running event in the season — One Lap Savannah, Green Mile, Chancellor Challenge, Cross Country — and won every single one.
Every event. Every time. An unbeaten 2025.
Robinson is back for 2026, and he's not defending one title — he's defending everything. And on Wednesday, he lines up against a man who has just declared open war on his course record. Two champions. Two stories. One Savannah.
Kris Deonanan Has Been Waiting Nine Years.
In 2017, Kris Deonanan stood on a CariFin podium as cross country champion. He was at the height of his CariFin powers, running for Guardian Group.
Then CariFin evolved. Guardian took a pause. Deonanan stepped away from the course. And for nine years, the competition carried on without him.
Guardian is back in 2026. And so is Deonanan. He's entered for all three Urban Challenge events. And I don't need to tell you what it looks like when a champion returns to the arena with nine years of unfinished business driving every stride.
Part 2 — The Legacy
Brian Jeremie Already Owns the Wayne Roberts Challenge Trophy. Forever.
Some stories are not about defending a title. They are about what comes after you've won everything there is to win.
Brian Jeremie of Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago has won the One Lap Savannah walking category three consecutive times. Under CariFin tradition, three straight victories in an event earn the champion permanent possession of the trophy. The Wayne Roberts Challenge Trophy is now his. Forever.
So what is Brian Jeremie walking for on Wednesday?
Legacy. The kind that goes beyond silverware. The kind where a competition looks back in 20 years and says: there has never been anyone like him. He isn't defending a title on Wednesday. He's cementing his place as the finest walker CariFin has ever produced.
Garvin Ali of Sagicor — third in 2025 at 31:50. Kerron James of Scotiabank — fifth in 2025 at 33:14. Two men who know the trophy is gone. Two men who want to be the first to beat Brian Jeremie at his own game.
Part 3 — The Open Thrones
Two Queens Ruled in 2025. Both Are Gone.
Here is where the 2026 story shifts. In 2025, the female categories produced two of the most compelling individual battles in CariFin history. And in 2026, the women at the centre of both battles are not on the start line.
Oya Harper of the Ministry of Finance ran the female running category unbeaten in 2025. Dominant. Untouchable. The standard every other female runner measured herself against. The Ministry of Finance is not part of CariFin 2026. Harper is absent. The title she held is vacant.
Which brings us to Alissa Ali.
Ali, running for Scotiabank, finished third behind Harper in the 2025 One Lap Savannah. With Harper gone, the path to the top of the podium has never been clearer. But she will not be alone in that ambition — every female runner in the field knows the crown has no head inside it.
And Then There's the Walking Rivalry.
2025's female walking story was one of the fiercest rivalries this competition has ever produced. The title changed hands across three events.
Cherisse Pierre of Sagicor drew first blood — winning the One Lap Savannah in 31:51, edging Jewel Blackwell of the Ministry of Finance into second. Blackwell responded immediately, winning the Green Mile and levelling the contest.
Then came the Chancellor Challenge. Blackwell was on vacation. In her absence, Twila Reis of Scotiabank stepped forward and claimed the title — the defining moment of her CariFin career. Blackwell returned and won the final event of the season.
Three events. Three different champions. A rivalry that left nothing settled.
In 2026, Blackwell is gone. The woman who stood between Cherisse Pierre and total dominance is not on the start line. The woman who stood between Twila Reis and her destiny is not on the start line.
Can Pierre build on 2025 and take the full Urban Challenge season? Can Reis prove that what she did at the Chancellor wasn't a vacancy filled but a destiny earned?
The door is open. The throne is empty. And two women who spent all of 2025 watching someone else stand between them and glory are finally free to settle it between themselves.
Part 4 — The Team
Scotiabank Arrives as the Institution to Beat.
Defending overall champions Scotiabank arrive at the Savannah with one of the deepest rosters in the field. Shay Gonzales — the 2024 overall CariFin male champion, fourth in last year's One Lap Savannah — lines up alongside Clinton Williams and Alissa Ali.
Scotiabank won the 2025 overall title with 1,025.47 points. In a streamlined 2026 edition with three Urban Challenge events and one Aerobics Burnout, every single point carries maximum weight. There is no event to throw away. The defence begins Wednesday — and you can feel it in the way they've been training.
Four New Institutions. Fresh Energy. Fresh Statements.
Wednesday marks the competitive debut of four institutions in CariFin Games 2026. ANSA Financial Services arrive with Curtis Cox and a statement of intent that goes well beyond team size. Guardian Group returns with Kris Deonanan and nine years of unfinished business. Clico and EXIM Bank complete the new quartet, adding depth across every category.
Combined with our returning institutions, the 2026 field has more than 2,000 registered participants. Our most diverse, most competitive start line in 35 years.
Part 5 — The Course
3.5 Kilometres of the Most Iconic Loop in Trinidad and Tobago.
The One Lap Savannah begins opposite TGI Fridays, near the back of the West Foyer Extension at Queen's Park Savannah. Runners and walkers proceed clockwise around the full Savannah loop. Runners depart first. Walkers follow.
The Savannah has witnessed 35 years of CariFin moments. Every cross-country start. Every podium walked. Every rivalry born. This is the course that knows us better than we know ourselves.
Curtis Cox says 15 minutes. Anton Robinson ran 15:30 in 2025. Brian Jeremie has never been beaten here. And Wednesday at 5:00 PM, the Savannah delivers its verdict.
Come Watch History
CariFin Games 2026 is leaner, sharper, more focused than any edition before it. Three Urban Challenge events. Four weeks. No margin. The season is won and lost in the details.
Wednesday evening, bring the family. Bring a chair. Bring a camera. Find a spot along the Savannah loop, and come and witness something we've been building toward for thirty-five years. The public is warmly invited. There is no charge. There is no pre-registration. There is only a start line, a flame, and a field of runners and walkers who have something to prove.
See you at the start line.
— Wayne