Alika Morgan Set for Caricom 10k Race

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  Guyana’s Alika Morgan, reigning female champion for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Annual 10K Road Race is set to compete on home turf when the fifth staging of the 10K Race opens on Sunday 28 June, just a couple of days before the 30th Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Guyana.

A fifth victory in her own backyard would not only seal Morgan as the invincible queen of the road but would be a fitting tribute to her country and President H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo, the incoming Chairman of CARICOM.

In keeping with the 2007 Port-of Spain Declaration which outlined a 15-point action plan to fight Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), the annual 10K run continues to be staged as a platform on which physical activity for healthier lifestyle is promoted. As a result, this year’s theme is simply Health, Unity and Prosperity, with resonances of the 2001 Nassau Declaration, which emphasized that, the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region.

As is customary, the Race will attract both amateurs and professionals from CARICOM Member States, visiting tourists, and students from the Host Country. For the second year, the main organizers - the CARICOM Secretariat - in tandem with the Local Organising Committee, led by Guyana’s Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, have introduced a special feature which is a 5k run for children under 16 and differently-abled persons.

The starter’s gun will shoot at exactly 7:00 a.m. to begin the gruelling trek from the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen and continue East along Railway Embankment Road, going North along Ogle Airstrip Road, turning West into East Coast Highway, passing through Kitty Public Road and CARIFESTA Avenue to South into Camp Road and West into Barrack Street, heading North towards the finishing line at the Police Sports Club Ground, Eve Leary.

The fourth renewal of the CARICOM 10K was hosted by Antigua and Barbuda last year and saw a representation of more than 14 countries, including non-CARICOM countries, and over eighty runners, including the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, responding to the starter’s signal.

This year, Guyana is hoping to top that feat, both in Member State representation and in the number of Guyanese participating. As a result, Guyana’s Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport is working assiduously with the Guyana Amateur Athletic Association (GAAA) to mobilize athletes to participate. Sources close to the GAAA indicate that Guyana might even have an ace up its sleeves - a dark horse just waiting to wrest victory from reigning male champion, St Vincent and the Grenadines' Pamenos Ballentyne, who, like Morgan has held tenaciously to the top position since the first staging of the 10K in Saint Lucia in 2005. Only time - 28 June 2009 - will tell.