Eleuthera Athletes Travel to 27th Milo Primary Track and Field

A fifty member team is expected to represent Eleuthera at the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Cultures' 27th Milo Primary Track and Field

Championship to be held under the theme ‘Celebrating Our Bahamian Youth’ May 14-16 at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium.

Some of those athletes include Deep Creek's Malachi Anderson and Donna Lee Anderson, Palmetto Point's Sheldon Dean and Kristina Knowles and Green Castle's, Rodisha Mackey,  Rayneshi Whylly and Kaysale Pinder.

All of these athletes are members of the Eleuthera Athletics Track&Field Club (EATFC) headed by coach Kennard Mackey. This team was made up of 17 members including Deep Creek's Glenroy Cooper that  recently competed at the Road Runners meet held in New Providence last month.

The team returned home with eight medals. Malachi competing in the boys under nine division won a gold medal in the 100  meter dash and also a silver medal in the 200 meters.

Cooper competing in the boys under 13 division won the bronze medal in the 800 meters. Dean competing  in the under 15 boys division won the bronze medal in the shot putt.
Then Knowles running in the under 13 girls division got the bronze in the 800 long distance event, Mackey in the under 13 girls long jump won the silver medal and Donna Lee won the silver in the girls under 11 long jump.

The EATFC also did well in the relays. The girls under 13 team won the bronze medal in the 4x100 relay. This relay team included Donna Lee, Mackey , Whylly and Pinder. 

According to coach Mackey the Roadrunners meet was used as a tune up for the Milo event. 

"I am a firm believer in getting our athletes exposure. So far for the season my club in particular has attended several track meets abroad and at home. With this experience under their belts they would not be as nervous or frightened to compete in New Providence and against other children from different islands. They now know what to expect and can mentally prepare for it now.

"I saw a whole lot of improvement while over there. However the improvement was more apparent when we came back home and competed in a local event, the All Eleuthera meet. In the end the athletes did so well that most of them made it on the All Eleuthera Track and Field Team. So those two meets in Nassau really gave them an advantage over the other children and a boost in confidence.

"Also I have to give credit to Tony Creane for helping out in the throws. It is our intention to start focusing on the field events. I am working with Belinda Policanno who is excellent with the field events. So people should now expect to see some  good field event athletes coming out of Eleuthera," said Mackey.

Coach Mackey has some predictions for the major Milo event.

"I am sure we are going to medal in the under 10 boys 100 and 200. We  should also medal in all of our relays and for the most part in all of the under eight events," coach Mackey said.
 
 Mackey added that the support has been encouraging.

"When we head up for the big Milo event several coaches will be accompanying the team namely Mr. Creane, Mr. Thompson from up North, Belinda, Eldiqua  chaperon Kayla Lightbourne and nurse Angie Thompson. Furthermore with our accomplishments being made public in The Eleutheran we were able to get sprints for all of my athletes and they will no longer have to run bare footed. We were also assisted financially and with snacks and drinks for the whole meet.
"So thanks goes out to Mr. Ricardo Knowles from Palmetto Point, 'Lil Wilson' from Market Boy Place in Nassau and Mr. Marvin Sweeting from Bertha's Go Go Ribs on Mackey Street in Nassau," Mackey said.        

Eleuthera will also be represented in the banner competition. A total of 50 schools including 1500 athletes from all of the major Family Island are  expected to  participate at the Milo meet.