Dage Minors Thrills Crowd With 3rd Place Finish
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Dage Minors saluted the Bermudian crowd for helping inspire him to a superb podium finish in the men’s 1,500 metres final in the USATF Bermuda Games today [April 9].
Minors delivered a career-defining performance in front of the NBC Sports television cameras, not to mention a packed house at the Flora Duffy Stadium, claiming third place in a world-class field.
With a raucous partisan crowd willing him on, Minors held off American pair Kasey Knevelbaard and Eric Holt, who came fourth and fifth respectively, finishing in 3min 46.82sec.
Kamar Etiang of Kenya won the race in 3:45.26, and Amos Bartelsmeyer of Germany came second in 3:45.35, and Bermuda’s Lamont Marshall finished eighth in 4:10.86.
Minors, who works as a paraeducator at Sandys Middle School, was almost lost for words when asked to describe his emotions after his thrilling display.
“I realised tonight how much it means,” Minors told Bernews. “I don’t have words to explain it.
“For some reason, it just felt super easy. I think that had to do with the crowd just carrying me on.
“I’m just a regular guy. I work as a schoolteacher. I’ve got no sponsorship. I wake at 5.30 every morning, run and do my thing, and my family supports me.”
Minors, who hopes to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer, added: “I feel grateful and hope that what I do on the track can inspire people in Bermuda because there isn’t much positivity out there.
“Hopefully, some kid out there saw me compete against guys who get paid and says, ‘Yeah, I want to do that in the future.’ That’s what I run for.”
In the men’s triple jump, Bermuda’s Jah-Nhai Perinchief finished fourth with a leap of 15.75. The event was won by Chris Benard of the United States [16.57], with Jamaica’s Jordan Scott coming second [16.37] and Kaiwan Culmer of the Bahamas taking third [15.82].
Also representing Bermuda at the inaugural meet – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Label Event, the highest level outside the World Athletics Diamond League, was sprinter Tre Houston.
Houston, who competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, came fourteenth in the first round of the men’s 100 in 13.36.
Congratulations Dage! You did us proud thank you for giving us your best. We appreciate and love your commitment