Running Till Sunrise: Chasing Dawn at the Midnight Marathon

“It was a sight for sore eyes when I saw my entire family at mile 25. They were exactly what I needed to make that long trek up Abercromby Street to the finish line.” 

Bafasports Ambassador Jeunesse Wilson, and her quick account of the sensation finishing up the T&T Midnight Marathon which ran off last Sunday morning. 

Runners came, they ran, and they conquered the 26.2-mile jaunt – or 42 kilometres for the metric-minded among you – of our marquee event. 

It takes a brave soul to even think about attempting the runner’s rite of passage, even more so to actually show up and finish the race, but either way they lined up in their hundreds in the wee hours of Mother’s Day morning to give it their best shot. 

But that wasn’t all. 

In a night that had something for everybody, there was another race happening concurrently with the marathon. The Ekiden Relay was the definition of a “race within a race” as teams came out in their sashes (instead of batons) vying for a podium place, and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

And in the end, long after sunrise, there was the Secondary Schools Half Marathon Relay to wrap up a marathon (pardon the pun) of events at the NCC Foyer at the Queen’s Park Savannah.

R&B Groove and the starter’s horn

Coming into the venue during the minutes ticking towards midnight, one could be mistaken for wondering if they got the nights mixed up. 

Instead of runners’ shorts, knee-high socks, compression tights and kicks, there were evening gowns, fitted slacks, loafers, and the perfumed aroma of people dressing up for the night in the air. 

Not exactly the atmosphere we’ve gotten used to leading up to one of our races, but we were there at the usual spot. 

Incidentally, the You, Me and R&B – Midnight Confessions concert was well underway at the Grand Stand, which made for an unusual synergy leading up to the start of the race. 

Not that runners coming to the gantry minded in the slightest. 

“It was a bit overwhelming at first, walking into the race village, but the R&B music from the nearby concert brought a calming feeling to this highly-anticipated event.” Wilson recalled after the race. 

“Finally, the horn went off and all the anxiety quickly went away after seeing and hearing the crowd of supporters cheering us on as we ran out from the race village onto the QPS.

“The horns, the shouting of your name – ‘Miss Trinidad and Tobago’, the soca music etc brought an electrifying start to this race.” 

Wilson came dressed for the occasion to say the least. With her red, white, and black number, she wore arguably the most iconic number in the entire race – which is saying a lot in a Bafasports race – fashionable enough to make some of the ladies attending the concert next door blush. 

And just like that, the race was off. 

The athletes village and the usual vibes

Coming in from the west in the parking lot you’d have had to weave through the R&B, and the elegantly formal, but if you looked far enough you’d have seen the Subway feathers on the horizon, like a green-and-yellow lighthouse signalling to the running faithful to assemble. 

The athletes’ village wasn’t the sea of people like the KFC 5K and 1K in April – at least not yet – but you could feel the excitement rise. 

And in typical fashion, runners laid – or stood rather – in wait for the starter’s countdown before starting the pilgrimage to Dinsley Junction. 

“I was very grateful for the amount of persons who came out to support the runners,” Wilson explained. “Their energies along with the vibrant Subway vibes crew, water stop crew, club supporters, steel pan and rhythm section, made these 26.2 miles easier.”

Spectators lined up in their dozens at the top of Dundonald Street in front of  Häagen-Dazs, which has become quite the landmark for our races, eagerly waiting to cheer on anybody with a bib wizzing by. 

Chief among those was Wilson herself who appeared to be having the time of her life as she went by. 

“These spots gave the midnight atmosphere a similar vibrancy of a night Mas, reminding us that we are not alone and that we’re here with you,” she said. “I was amazed to see the amount of people offering salt prunes, coconut water, a biker even asked if I needed to spray my legs.”

As the race was unfolding, things were humming back in the village, as Subway and Starbucks was already on the scene, while on the opposite end both Powerade and Dasani had their tents side-by-side with enough drinks to refuel an entire nation. 

And just in case you were stepping the village for the first time, Merere Louis Gonzales was on the mic to keep the crowd entertained as well as updated on the current race positions.

Later in the night the doubles arrived, and all the usual bells and whistles were in place to welcome the runners back as they walked – or crawled – over the line.

Ekesa the record-setter

“I’m a Trini now…”

Those were the parting words from the Kenyan distance runner, Alex Ekesa, as we wrapped up the post-race interview with him.

Ekesa is no stranger to the local running scene, as coming into our 2026 Midnight Runner Series, he helped himself to the 19th UWI SPEC Half Marathon in October – also in record-breaking fashion – and he was the winner of the Trinidad and Tobago International Marathon in 2024 to add to his Midnight Marathon double act. 

Just over half an hour later Colombian Palmenia Agudelo was the first woman – and second person overall mind you – to cross the line to the tune of rapturous applause. 

“I feel good. It’s my fifth edition and in first place as well, and truly I liked (the race) and thanks to the organisers,” she explained in the post-race interview. “I liked my experience in Trinidad a lot. It’s the fifth time I’ve been here, with two editions (of the Midnight Marathon) that I finished as the winner, and running the race at midnight was something I liked a lot!

At that point, runners who had finished their legs in the Ekiden Relay were already filing in by the dozens and just in time for the live pan side to start massaging the notes with their sticks. 

PPF bring the Ekiden heat, QRC with the half-marathon feet

The PPF men’s team brought a Tobago heat to the Ekiden Relay segment of the event, as they combined strategy with legs made of titanium to finish first in the event. 

“We know each other, and know each other’s times,” said Ted John, skipper of the team. “I have the fastest 5K time, so I can give the second leg person a good lead. So we got at least a 10-minute lead… so we had a lot of time to play with. That lead evolved to 25 minutes because we watched the time difference after the event.”

And as first light ushered in the sunrise, popular DJ and occasional soca artiste, Ding Dong wrestled the entertainment duty away from Gonzales to keep the energy levels high after the sun came up.

And just about an hour or two later the teenagers from QRC seized top spot in the Secondary Schools Half Marathon Relay to round off the event.

More from our ambassadors

Wilson wasn’t the only ambassador on the road either. 

“It’s about the ability to keep pushing even after you thought you’ve reached your limit,” Kaitlin Ferreira added in a post-race internalisation on Instagram.

“Somewhere along the course, I realised I wasn’t just running a race. I have been running from myself for a very long time. Ironically enough, this was the run I was left with nowhere to run. I hit a wall and had no choice but to confront all the things I’ve been trying to avoid.”

Wilson, who had participated in five previous marathons internationally, concurred with an account of lively, but albeit gruelling experience. 

“All marathon runners have learnt to run with pain, so when the stitch came out of nowhere around mile three, then right hamstring and left hip pain around the halfway mark, I quickly reminded myself that all five marathons before were not a walk in the park and this one is no different.”

But it was all worth it in the end.

“I was about to leave with my children and decided to check the screen for my exact time and realised that I came first in my age group,” she revealed. 

“Let’s just say that it was a very slow and laboured walk to the stage to collect my prize. I was glad that my children were there to witness their mummy doing hard things and being recognised for all the long runs and hard work that it takes to prepare for and run a marathon. Nothing in life comes easy and running a marathon is no different.”

Bet you didn’t know this…

This race, or at least in the version of the T&T marathon has been around for decades, and so have the runners.

Winston Stewart completed the Midnight Marathon at 76 years old, clocking four hours, 37 minutes, 28.7 seconds. Rewind to 1983, he also competed at the event where at 33 years old, he finished in 3:16:49.

Another runner matching that feat was Thomas Sealey, who also ran both editions of the race, clocking 3:52:13 as a 27-year-old, while last Sunday, he finished in 5:41:15.1 at 69. 

While Hollis Anthony was the third run to feature in both races, where at 24 in 1983 he clocked 5:14:38, while at the young age of 67, he finished at 7:25:23.2.

From strength to strength

And the movement is growing in stature, with participation rising by 14%  in 2026 to mark its largest field in the last 20 years. 

Organisers reported an increase from 342 runners in 2025 to 390 this year, highlighting the steady expansion of the unique night-time road race. 

The event also drew competitors from a wide cross-section of countries including Canada, Colombia, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saint Lucia, Panama, Switzerland, the United States and Venezuela, alongside a strong T&T contingent.

While male runners accounted for the majority of participants with 78.5% of the field, female participation stood at 21.5%  as interest in the event continues to spread across different demographics. 

Team participation was also a major feature of the marathon, with PPF emerging as the dominant force after fielding 44 runners, while clubs such, Just Run Na also made strong contributions. 

Among the standout individual performances were the “Transformation of the Year” recipients, Dwain Morin and Eva Templado, both of whom recorded significant improvements on their 2025 times. 

Morin slashed his marathon mark from 5:46:12 to 3:52:10, while Templado improved from 6:48:07 to 5:05:24.

And as the final runners filtered out of the Savannah long after dawn had broken, the Midnight Marathon once again proved why it remains one of the most unique fixtures on the local sporting calendar.

It was never just about the times on the clock, the medals at the finish, or even the aching legs that followed. It was about the stories shared along darkened roads, the strangers cheering in the wee hours of the morning, the teams pushing one another through exhaustion, and the quiet triumph of ordinary people doing extraordinary things before the rest of the country had even woken up. 

From seasoned veterans revisiting decades-old memories, to first-time marathoners discovering new limits, the 2026 edition reminded us all that sometimes the most meaningful journeys begin at midnight and finish at sunrise.