Did Sunday’s Wet Fete, the National Cycling Road Racing Championships and Public Service Day take attention away from the annual Olympic Day Run, which concluded with a host of activities at the St Lucia Yacht Club (SLYC) on picturesque Reduit Beach?
The Olympic Day Run, which is in keeping with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ideal, was slated for 8am. However, things were late getting underway, as organizers waited for the police to assist with traffic along the route from Top of the World (Marisule) to the SLYC. Despite the absence of police, the run did go as planned with no incidents along the way.
Jason Sayers of the Road Busters Club was first across the finish line, covering the 5 km distance in 14:20.51. The first female was Nigerian Eyabo. Participants received medals from various officials including President of the St Lucia Olympic Committee, Richard Peterkin and First Vice President, Fortuna Belrose.
The St Lucia Sailing Club were first among National Federations to begin an afternoon of sporting events, followed by the St Lucia Table Tennis Association who extended an invitation to everyone to play on boards installed inside a tent. Throughout the day, the St Lucia Athletics Association staged various fun events for participants of all ages. There were also presentations by karate, taekwondo and boxing associations.
Reflecting on the day’s activities, General Secretary of the SLOC, Alfred Emmanuel said: “Once you have participation from the members {National Federations} yes it’s a success. The turnout could have been better, but at the end of the day the planned activities did take place. We stuck to the plan and the plan did succeed.”
Emmanuel did not blame the low turnout on other events taking place Sunday. However, he expressed concern with one of their federations, the St Lucia Cycling Association for staging their National Road Racing Championship the same say as the Olympic Day Run.
He said: “That’s an issue I think we will have to discuss around the table. We have two executive members of the SLOC that are also executive members of the cycling fraternity and that is something we will discuss in house.”
Emmanuel made it clear in the future, he would like National Federations to recognize the fact they need to give way to the Olympic Committee when they have activities.
