The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HAVING ascended to the top of the world as a two-time Olympic and now World Indoor Championship women’s 400 metre champion, Shaunae Miller- Uibo said it was important for her to come back home and give back to the community where she got her career started.

Amidst the celebrations of her victory in Belgrade two weeks ago, she joined forces with the Stapledon Gardens Neighbourhood Crime Watch for the Shaunae Miller-Uibo Fun Run Walk, Souse Out and Wellness Day on Saturday at the McKinney Avenue Park in Stapledon Gardens.

“It was a blessing because this is the community where I grew up,” said Miller- Uibo, who was flanked by her husband Maicel and parents May and Shawn Miller Sr.

“So it’s good to come back home and to be able to celebrate like this is just a blessing.”

Miller-Uibo, who is now preparing for the outdoor season and her bid for her first World Championships outdoor title, said she would have liked to have had more participants for the early morning riser.

But she said she was still appreciative of those who showed up and participated, as well as the Bahamas Association of Certified Officials (BACO) and the Stapledon Gardens community for their support.

In the walk segment, the winners were Dom Smith in the women’s 18-35 category, Ruth Fisher in women’s 36-59, Kaye Bastian in women’s 60-and-over, Trevor Forbes in the men’s 36-59 and Arlington Hanna in the men’s 60-and-over.

Second place finishers were Elvia Storr in the women’s 36-59, Ruth Brave in the women’s 60-and-over, tied in the men’s 60-and-over were Michael Dillet, Ian Fernander, Father James Palacious and Leslie ‘Potcake’ Miller.

And third place went to Gaynell Ferguson in the women’s 36-59 and Rufus Swann in the men’s 60-and-over.

In the running category, Charlee Fisher took the 17-and-under women’s title, while Eve Maycock-Dorsett was the 36-59 winner and Francis Adderley came through in the men’s 60-and -over.

“Running is a part of my thing and when I heard Shaunae was going to be here, I had to come out and support it,” Maycock-Dorsett said.

“It went very well. It was a breeze for me. It was a morning exercise for me. I did it in about 34 minutes. It was good weather, but not much competition.”

Maycock-Dorsett said she’s very proud of Miller- Uibo and that was why she participated.

“It was certainly a very good experience and I’m happy to see the community getting involved,” said Adderley, a former outstanding baseball/softball player, who has now ventured into total fitness activities.

“I think it was very good to come out here and support Shaunae, our world-class athlete. I’m definitely looking forward to being a part of the second, third, fourth and fifth editions and any others that I can support.”

As the youngest competitor to participate at age 10, Charlee Fisher, a fifth grader at Kingsway Academy, said she just enjoys running and so she wanted to participate and share in the celebrations for Miller-Uibo.

“It was good, but it felt pretty long,” said Fisher, who is developing as a sprinter in the footsteps of her father and ZNS sportscaster Charles Fisher, but is an idol of Miller-Uibo, saying “I want to be like her.”

Representing a group of runners who participate in as many events as they can, Fr Palacious said they want to emphasize physical fitness, health, body, mind and soul and at the time share in the celebrations for Miller-Uibo.

“However old you are, walk at your pace, however fit you are, try to get even fitter because we are really an unfit country, but we could change that one person at a time,” he summed up.

“If our presence here can inspire somebody, then I think the whole country is better off as a result of it.”

Also on hand and even participating was Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg, who said it was a good event because he needed to stay fit as a politician.

“Anytime you put on events to get people to become healthy and physically by strengthening your body, I always want to support it,” he said. “I believe COVID-19 has allowed a lot of us to become overweight and so the mere fact that the Crime Watch community put on this event and for our ‘Golden Girl,’ I wanted to come out and give my support.”

Tomark, the vice president of the Crime Watch Association, presented a plaque that read: Stapledon Gardens Community Watch salutes Shaunae Miller- Uibo, two-time Olympic gold medallist and World Indoor 400m champion” as they expressed their gratitude to her for her achievement as a member of their community.

Miller-Uibo’s father, Shaun Miller Sr, said the park brought back a lot of memories because having been born and raised in the community, this was where he got her start in the sport.

“We had about three parks in the afternoon that we trained but this one, in particular, we would ride our bikes here as an entire family and we would put in about two hours of training and then they could ride their bikes again,” he said.

He said when they were approached by the Stapledon Gardens Community to join forces to put on the event, they didn’t hesitate because they saw the importance for the Neighbourhood Watch Committee to help curtail crime in the area.