By:Curtis Morton
The team representing the Roses house at the inaugural seniors’ fun and action sports day on Thursday 15th October, proved the dominant force by taking first place in the historic event.
The meet was the brain child of patron for the day, Ms Clesia Meredith Amory-Fields and was jointly coordinated by the Seniors’ division of the Social Services department; the Mental Health Unit; The Nevis Red Cross and the Youth and Sports Department.
The event kicked off at the ET Willet Park at about 2 pm with a first of its kind DANCE PAST which saw the spritely athletes dancing energetically to the sounds of String band music. They were led by the patron who is an accomplished dancer.
A brief ceremony preceded the on the track action. This was chaired by Mr. Eric Evelyn, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Among the persons addressing the sizeable gathering were: Senior Minister of Sports, Hon. Mark Brantley who congratulated Minister Brandy-Williams and her Ministry for the initiatives being out in place for the seniors and also congratulated all of the stakeholders involved in making the event a reality.
He noted that the seniors would have built the foundation for the younger ones within the community and deserved every positive accolade.
Minister of State in the federal cabinet, Hon Wendy Phipps, indicated that she had headed a delegation of approximately 40 seniors from St.Kitts to be present at the event and warmly congratulated the organizers for the initiative. She also indicated that she is also looking forward to the visit by a Nevisian contingent that will join in the seniors’ march which will be held in St.Kitts at the month end.
Premier Vance Amory indicated that as a senior himself, he appreciated their contributions to the society and opined that they deserve the good things which they have been afforded in their latter years. He also indicated that he may even participate in an event.
The athlete’s oath was taken by Mrs. Annie Brandy and prayer was offered by Pastor Griffin.
Then the fun part began and the crowd was highly entertained and there was much laughter and hilarity, on and off the track.
Commentators, Eric Evelyn, Rudy Browne and Roger Fyfield, also served to add quite a bit of humour to the day’s activity.
Some of the highlights of the day included: Premier Amory taking part in the 50 meters walk and taking gold, although he ended the race by clutching briefly at his right leg; Centenarian Dovie Elliot was recognized publicly as one of the spectators and received a medal for her presence; Ninety-Five year old Ms Jeffers of Hamilton who took center stage, even though she was blind,covered at least 25 meters on the track, guided by a rope. She however entertained the crowd with her vivacious dancing and her gymnastics by bending and touching her toes, multiple times.
Gwenneth Maynard and Annie Brandy, both fell in separate races and got up and still managed to clinch second place, while Mary Herbert had difficulty in getting back to her feet after she fell but literally crawled to the finish line, much to the entertainment of the crowd.
Ms Flo Freeman proved to be one of the ultimate stars however, as she protested over her placement in the dress up race, citing the fact that the other participants who placed before her, actually took off running before properly putting on their T-shirts, while she stood at the starting line and put on her shirt and then ran the remainder of the race.
She won her appeal and much to her joy, was awarded the gold medal.
The athletes participated in the following races:
50 meters walk; lime and spoon; tape ball throw; 25 meters Flat race; thread the roll; Fill the bottle; Dress up race and relay race.
The final point standings were as follows:
Rose-49 points
Hibiscus-42 points
Lily -37 points
Flambuoyant-22 points