(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines male and female athletes Pomunos Ballentyne and Sonia Ackbar, outran their Caribbean counterparts by emerging as the first place winners at the Inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 10 K Road Race. The competition was ran at the dawn of Sunday 3 July in Saint Lucia, where the 26th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM is being hosted.
Having won from a field of 100 participants from eight CARICOM Member States, the Road Race champions will each receive US$1000 and the CARICOM 10K Winners Trophy.
In the female category of the competition, Guyanese participants Aleka Morgan and Ashanti Scott placed second and third respectively, while Adelaide Carrington from St. Vincent and the Grenadines came in fourth. In the male category Victor Ledge from Saint Lucia took second place while Kelvin Johnson from Guyana placed third.
Apart from awarding cash prizes to the top winners of the competition, organisers of the competition have also set aside monetary prizes for the second, third and fourth place winners. To this end, the sum of US$750, a trophy and an air ticket by Air Jamaica to any of its destinations will go to the second prize winners, while those who placed third and fourth will receive US$600 and US$500 respectively, along with individual trophies.
At the conclusion of the race, CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington said, “Sports and Physical Education are gradually being given the recognition that they deserve and are now poised to assume their rightful role in the process of Regional development.” He noted that as a result, there is now a concerted move at national levels to promote sport and physical education on the basis of locally assessed needs, as a tool for health, education, social and cultural development.
The Secretary-General also emphasised that the CARICOM 10K Road Race should be seen as part of the overall development of healthy lifestyles by nationals of the Community. He lauded a number of agencies and individuals for contributing to the success of the event. These included corporate sponsors-LIAT, BWIA West Indies Airways, Air Jamaica, Banks DIH Ltd, SAGICOR, ANSA MCAL Ltd and Grace Kennedy Ltd and Awarak Printers.
Mr. Carrington also expressed gratitude to Mr. Joseph “Reds” Perriera, whose role involved encouraging the CARICOM Secretariat “to bring the event to life,” the athletes for their wholehearted support and the organisers including the Amateur Athletics Association of the Saint Lucia. In addition, staff of the CARICOM Secretariat’s Human and Social Development (HSD) Directorate and spectators of the event were also thanked, along with the media for publicising the Road Race.
The winners will receive their prizes at the opening ceremony for the Twenty Sixth Meeting of The Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM which commences at 4 pm at Sandals Grande, Saint Lucia, broadcast live compliments of Cable and Wireless.
