The Tribune

AS the University of The Bahamas continues to celebrate the recent launch of its new athletics brand and Mingoes Mascot, new trails are being blazed once again with the introduction of the inaugural UB Fit Fun Run Walk Skate 5K/10K event.

The event, set for 6am on Saturday, April 1, at the Oakes Field Campus, will bring together UB stakeholders, students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Targeting 500 runners, walkers and skaters, Bahamians are encouraged to support the first fundraiser of its kind as University of The Bahamas.

Conceptualised by an avid runner, UB FIT Health and Safety Committee chair Kandice Eldon created the event to bring the UB community and friends of the university together to promote health and wellness.

The event culminates the institution’s annual Health and Safety Week under the theme: “Fit, Healthy, Safe.”

“The genesis of this event was a desire to see the university community and friends of UB come together for a worthy cause. As a committee, we determined that funds raised would augment UB’s Annual Fund and also increase mobility on campus for students with special needs. We are extremely thankful for our sponsors and supporters and believe this will be a memorable event for years to come.”

University of The Bahamas will join the ranks of many other organisations who have used fun run, walks to galvanise the community and support worthwhile causes.

UB Fit has garnered the support of corporate Bahamas with Generali as the title sponsor along with National Health Insurance (NHI) as the platinum sponsor.

Longstanding supporters of UB, BTC is the gold sponsor and JS Johnson, the bronze sponsor for the race.

On March 3, executives from Generali visited the Oakes Field Campus for a cheque presentation.

Davinia Blair, vice president of institutional advancement and alumni affairs, underscored the value of philanthropy and supporting initiatives such as UB FIT and others.

“Generali’s excitement and enthusiasm with being the title sponsor for UB Fit is extremely encouraging to use as a strong vote of confidence in the vision of the University and the need for the University to have events which support good health and productive citizens.

“We are very appreciative of their support and all our corporate sponsors who’ve come on board to support this initiative,” said Blair.

As a proud graduate of University of The Bahamas, Generali Sales Communications Manager Anya Smith, AA’94 expressed the partnership with UB came at a pivotal time for the company.

“We’re very pleased at Generali to give back to the community as this is our 10th year of operations here in The Bahamas. We thought this would be one of the good ways to give back to our community. This year we are rolling out several wellness initiatives and we want our members and community partners to be active so we were so happy to join up with University of The Bahamas in this endeavour.

“It provides us the opportunity to ‘Live the community’ which is one of our company’s values so we are pleased and excited.”

Smith implores other alumni to give back to their alma mater, “it’s also a great way to encourage future students to attend UB, realising it is a very good option for tertiary education.”

A clarion call is being made to all UB alumni and corporate Bahamas to register for the race which will include UB Blue Powder with a post-race health expo, medal ceremony and special performance by Dyson Knight.

Interested persons may register at Sports Center Harbour Bay and Club One Fitness, Sandyport and Chapter One Bookstore.

Registration is $25 for adults, $15 children 17-and-under and $10 for UB students with ID.