The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunmedia.net

THE Golden Girls era is finally over, but V’Alonée Robinson is hoping that she can be one of the athletes to help with the resurgence of the Bahamas women’s relay team.

Now home training, Robinson said she is excited about competing for her country once again in the second IAAF World Relays on May 2-3 at the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

“The experience was wonderful. It was good to be home competing in the new stadium. It felt like the old Carifta days when everybody used to come out and cheer you on,” Robinson said. “Hearing the junkanoo music was just a plus. It just made everything feel so good. It was just fun to compete at home again.”

During the inaugural relays last year, Robinson ran the first leg, teaming up with Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, Caché Armbrister and Anthonique Strachan as they ran a season’s best of 43.46 seconds for second place in the B final of the women’s 4 x100 metres behind Canada’s winning time of 43.33 seconds, a season’s best as well.

The United States pulled off the victory in a championship record of 41.88 seconds, beating arch rivals Jamaica (42.28) and Trinidad & Tobago (42.66). Robinson, Ferguson, Tayla Carter and Strachan missed advancing to the final by running 43.56 seconds in the last of three heats for third place and 10th overall.

Looking back at the performance of Team Bahamas, which also saw the combination of Nivea Smith and Armbrister finish fourth in a national record of 1min 31.31sec in the 4 x 200m, Robinson said it’s going to take that same type of concerted effort by all of the top competitors to come home and compete again if the Bahamas is going to regain its status as one of the world’s top relay teams.

“It would be good to see us get all of the top athletes home again this year,” she lamented. “I know some of them will be obligated to compete for their universities, but if we can get all of the others together to compete before the relays, I think that would help us out even better.”

By not making it to the final of the 4 x 100m relay last year, the Bahamas failed to automatically qualify for this year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, in August.

The United States, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Nigeria, Britain, Germany, Brazil and France, by virtue of finishing in that order in the final, automatically clinched their berths. But Robinson is convinced that the Bahamas still have a golden opportunity to book their ticket at this year’s World Relays, especially with the meet being hosted here for the second time.

Unlike last year, however, Robinson was still in the United States training. She has since returned home because of the lack of funding this year and is making the best of her circumstances.

“It’s rough. It takes me back to high school training, but now everything is not at your disposal,” Robinson reflected. “You have to find sponsors and find people to get you into the meets in the United States, so it’s really tough. The problem with being at home is that unless you have the funding, you can’t just get to the meets and compete as easily as you could if you were in the United States. The outdoor season has not started as yet, so it gives you time to prepare so that you can get into as many meets as possible and close to home where you won’t have to spend so much money on travel.”

One of the benefits that Robinson has capitalised on being at home is the fact that she has got the opportunity to be reunited with her high school coach, Dianne Woodside, of St Augustine’s College and Club Monica, to prepare her for the upcoming season.

“I’m comfortable and confident in my training,” she insisted. “I’m still waiting to get into some more aggressive training and being able to drop my times so that I can do what I do best. I’m looking forward to travelling in April for my first meet in the United States, probably in Georgia, if not in Florida. It should be very exciting for me and the other athletes, who are also home training.”

Not only is Robinson home, but she get a chance to work out with hurdlers Crystal Bodie and Ivanique Kemp, who are both pushing her in their practice sessions and in the local meets they have participated in so far this year.

“It’s still rough because as college graduates, we are still looking for the funding to help us to do the things that we need to do to become better elite athletes,” Robinson said. “Without the collegiate base to rely on anymore now that we’ve graduated, the subventions (an assistance programme from the Bahamas Government to help the athletes in their training) should kick in, but they’re giving us a hard time with that so we just have to do the best that we can do.”

Robinson said one of the major reasons that she’s back home is because of the fact that she’s not on the subvention programme, but she’s not going to let it keep her down.

“I just want to qualify for the World’s and take it one step at a time,” she said. “Once I qualify, then I can look at some of my other goals, like competing in the championships for the Bahamas in an individual event.”

The graduate of St Augustine’s College and Auburn University in the United States, where she was coached by Bahamian Henry Rolle, has ran a personal best of 11.57 seconds. She has represented the Bahamas at both the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships in Bressanone in 2009 and the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada in 2010.

But her ultimate goal is to be on the Bahamas team at her first IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

Hopefully, her repeat appearance at this year’s IAAF World Relays in May will be the spark that can turn things around for the Nassau-based sprinter as she will have a little more to celebrate with her 23rd birthday falling right after the relays on May 6.

The Tribune is counting down to the IAA World Relays every Monday in the Sports section.