READY, SET, GO! FOR CARICOM 10K RUN

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Guyana has given the starter’s signal: It is all systems go for the fifth staging of the Annual Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 10K Road Race set for Sunday 28 June.

The Local Organising Committee and the CARICOM Secretariat have indicated their satisfaction with preparations for the Race so far, noting that “it will be a 10K with a difference and perhaps the largest in terms of participation” since to date, runners were still attempting to register for the race.

Scores of runners – amateurs and professionals – from across the region and internationally, will get down to their marks on Sunday morning under the theme Health, Unity and Prosperity. All will be vying for the top prizes of the CARICOM Chairman’s Trophy, the CARICOM Secretary-General’s Trophy and two cash prizes of US$1, 200 each, but only two – champion male and female - can run away with those prizes.

The eyes of the Region will be planted on two stalwarts of the Road - Guyana’s Alika Morgan and St Vincent and the Grenadine’s Pamenos Ballentyne. Both athletes have dominated this event since its inception in Saint Lucia in 2005; but sources close to the Guyana Amateur Athletic Association suggested that there might be several upsets at this year’s 10K. One thing is sure is that all those who participate will leave with a medal.

The Special 5K event introduced for youth, children under 16 and the differently-abled, is also expecting to attract significant participation.

After a brief ceremony at the CARICOM Secretariat, at 7:00am, the runners will take the route from the entrance to the 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, where several prizes and trophies will await them.

The prizes, medals and awards were made possible by the kind sponsorship of Digicel, First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB), Antigua, Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Fire and Life Insurance Company Limited (GTM), John Fernandes Insurance Services Limited, Ansa Mcal, Hand–in-Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Ltd, Laparkan, the North American Fire and General Insurance Ltd.( NAFICO) and the Human and Social Development Directorate of the CARICOM Secretariat.

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 Race continues to be staged as a platform on which physical activity for healthier lifestyle is promoted.