The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAAs) is set to launch a community outreach initiative to celebrate athletes and assist in the post-Hurricane Dorian restoration effort.

The BAAAs in conjunction with the Ministry of Education’s Sports Unit will host “Masquerade Race Weekend - Hurricane Dorian Relief Initiative/ Race to Restore” December 7-8.

The event is sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and supported by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, and the Bahamas Olympic Committee.

“The track and field season is over and we are looking at another phase of our programme, a light hearted event. The idea was to bring the country as a whole closer together, a cross section of society who we hope to bring closer to witness the work we do as a federation,” said BAAA President Drumeco Archer. “The idea is to bring a social space where we can cooperate in a non-competitive environment and our corporate partners can become a part of the fabric of society.”

Day one will feature a 10K race, half marathon relay and the Hurricane Dorian “One Mile March.”

Day two will feature a Masquerade Soiree and awards banquet recognising the efforts of the athletes over the course of the season.

“Everyone wants to provide some level of assistance. Our position is that we will accept funds and allocate to persons the BAAAs come into direct contact with,” Archer said. “There have been a number of athletes transplanted and adjusting to a new way of living has been a challenge. We have had constant requests from athletes that have not had basic necessities. We want to have some level of control where we can affect the funding.”

The partnership with the Ministry of Education is a part of larger initiatives to extend the federation’s reach into the public school system or to athletes who may not be members of clubs.

“The Ministry, through the government schools in the Bahamas, they house more junior athletes than any other institution. It is not just GSSSA that we target but we would like to have every school participate as possible.

“We want the Ministry through its personal efforts to grow this sport as we are attempting to reconstruct the programme at the government school level,” Archer said.

Evon Wisdom, director of the Sport Unit, said the event coincides with his ministry’s mandate of supporting the BAAAs through the school and in particular, with the development of distance events.

“The first thing we wanted to do was reinstate cross country events to really make improvements in distance running in the country. We are designated a certain amount of activities they must participate in to receive their designated allowance. We believe the emphasis of this partnership is long overdue. We command the audience of 97,000 children and 24 public primary schools in the country,” he said. “We are inviting student athletes to participate in these events on December 7. It will go toward competition hours for these students. We will be in full support of local tracks meets and put coaches on notice for next year and we would like for there to be full support, for their to be school clubs that can participate in BAAA events. We understand what athletics does and we see a bright future for this partnership moving forward.”

Kermit Taylor, BAAAs public relations and marketing director, said the numbers indicate that the night of the awards ceremony should be a celebration of the federation’s junior athletes.

“It’s been a while since we said thank you to our athletes for their contributions in the Bahamian national team uniform. For the junior side, we have 80-90 athletes at the elite level we have 15-20 that have competed throughout the year so there will be a focus on your junior athletes that have participated in NACAC, CARIFTA and Pan Am Juniors.”