Eustace, Omalo have retained Carnival King and Queen titles

by Derek Achong

Eu­stace and Oma­lo were an­nounced as win­ners of the an­nu­al com­pe­ti­tion at the end of the Di­manche Gras show at the Queen's Park Sa­van­nah, ear­ly this morn­ing.

It was the sec­ond ti­tle in a row for Eu­stace, who now has a record 11 ti­tles.

Oma­lo won a hat trick of ti­tles hav­ing been vic­to­ri­ous in 2024 and last year and holds a record five ti­tles over­all.

Eu­stace and Oma­lo's cos­tumes were by far the largest and tech­no­log­i­cal­ly ad­vanced in the com­pe­ti­tion and cap­ti­vat­ed the au­di­ence and the judges.

They were both de­signed by Eu­stace's broth­er Mar­cus.

San­gre Grande-based de­sign­er Var­ma Leo Lakhan, who de­signed Oma­lo's pre­vi­ous win­ners, con­tin­ued his strong show­ing in the Car­ni­val Queen's com­pe­ti­tion with two cos­tumes de­signed by him and por­trayed by mas­quer­aders Cher­ry-Ann Valere, and Sav­it­ri Ho­lassie plac­ing sec­ond and third, re­spec­tive­ly.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia af­ter be­ing an­nounced as the win­ner, Eu­stace said he was dis­ap­point­ed with the fact that he and Oma­lo were not giv­en a tro­phy as with the win­ners of the Ca­lyp­so Monarch com­pe­ti­tion.

"It is very em­bar­rass­ing to go on that stage and you don't even have a tro­phy to hold," Eu­stace said.

He al­so not­ed that the T&T Car­ni­val Bands As­so­ci­a­tion (TTC­BA), which man­ages both com­pe­ti­tions, nev­er re­vealed the prizes of this year. He al­so not­ed that the prizes are nor­mal­ly mea­gre and could bare­ly cov­er the costs as­so­ci­at­ed with pro­duc­ing a win­ning cos­tume.

"The fourth place in the Ca­lyp­so gained more mon­ey than the King of Car­ni­val. Some­thing is wrong," he said.

In an in­ter­view, Oma­lo said she was elat­ed for the vic­to­ry which she ded­i­cat­ed to her chil­dren and her com­mu­ni­ty of Ma­yaro.

"This win is to sig­ni­fy that you can do any­thing once you put your mind to it," she said.

Se­nior Queen of Car­ni­val Fi­nals

1. Rox­anne Oma­lo - Duchess of the Dark Skies - 431

2. Cher­ry-Ann Valere - Mor­gana-Em­press of the Un­der­world - 418

3. Sav­it­ri Ho­lassie - Ma­ma Isi­bon­go- Em­press of Zu­l­u­land - 410

4. Shynel Brizan - I am Africa, Aja Laive, Aja Lorun - 404

5. Shi­nese Valere - Re­flec­tion of Light and Beau­ty - 394

6. Shirley-Ann Psy­che Alex­is-Dil­lion - The Pol­li­nat­ing Ma­tri­arch - 391

7. Tur­ona Ramb­harose -Colours of Gems and Jew­els - 385

8. Priya Na­gas­sar - Benev­o­lent-Sap­phire Sea God­dess -382

8. Pe­o­la Marchan -Vi­o­let Crest Guardian Birds - 382

9. Rana Khan­doo -Chan­cha­la-The Ser­pent Charmer - 377

Se­nior King of Car­ni­val Fi­nals

1. Cur­tis Eu­stace - Spir­it of "D" Maraye - 437

2. Arif Gran­tum - The Mid­night Vis­i­tor - 426

3. Ravi Lakhan - The Glass Phan­tom - 408

3. Roop­nar­ine Ram­per­sad - The Silent Preda­tor of the Reef - 408

5. Ted Eu­stace - R'hllor-Lord of Fire and Ice - 393

6. Rus­sell Grant - Afro Cul­ture - 392

7. Ray­mond Mark - King Blue in the Mas­quer­ade Ball - 389

7. Adri­an Young - The Gold­en Moko: Eyes of the An­ces­tors -389

9. Fareid Car­val­ho - Fu­tu­ra­ma-The Pow­er from Be­yond - 384

10. Daniel Bas­combe - Mmiri Ozu­zo, Rain Down on Me - 383